Description:
A large applique depicting the goddess Medusa in raised relief, her face framed by wavy locks of snake hair. The goddess is horned and has broad feathered wings at either side, with a lunula on top.
Medusa stares ahead and uncompromisingly confronts the viewer, striking fear into his heart and threatening to turn him into stone, thereby warding off evil. She represents a dangerous threat meant to deter other dangerous threats, an image of evil to repel evil.
Medusa and her sisters Stheno and Euryale were the Gorgons, the winged terrifying daughters of the primordial sea gods Phorcys and Ceto (Hesiod, Theogony, 270 ff.). Medusa was the only one of them who was not immortal (she was killed by Perseus). She had a frightening, petrifying gaze, and because of this a gorgoneion (a depiction of the grotesque face) was often used as protection for buildings and objects, being placed on walls, doors and tombstones, as well as on ships, shields, breastplates and elsewhere, protecting against evil and the evil eye.
The appearance of Medusa changed over time. Earlier writers describe her as a member of a family of monsters; Homer, who speaks about one single Gorgon, calls her a ghastly monster from Hades (Homer, Odyssey, XI, 633). Later classical poets say that she was once a beautiful woman who was transformed into a monster with snakes as hair by the goddess Athena, a punishment because the temple of Athena was desecrated by Poseidon and Medusa (Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 4, 794–803). But although her appearance changed, her frightening and protective aspect remained. Her eye would for example prevent spirits or humans from disturbing the deceased, giving Medusa the role of guardian of the realm of the dead.
This applique, which is completely covered with a layer of gesso, was once a decorative and apotropaic ornament on a large terracotta vase, most likely an askos. This is a type of pottery vessel with a unique, usually globular but asymmetric shape that is reminiscent of a wineskin (the word askos means wineskin in Greek). Askoi were mostly found in high profile tombs; their shape suggests that they were used for certain rituals. They were often decorated with painting, three-dimensional figures, and a relief showing the head of Medusa.
Bibliography:
Richard Daniel De Puma, Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013), p. 118; 243-249;
Theresa Rose Huntsman, Eternal Personae. Chiusine Cinerary Urns and the Construction of Etruscan Identity (Washington University, 2014);
Carlos A. Picón a.o., Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007), p. 311, fig. 369; p. 476-477.
Dating:
Apulia, Canosa, circa third century B.C.
Size:
Width circa 19.5 cm; height circa 12 cm.
Provenance:
Swiss private collection of Dr. L., acquired in the 1950s; thence Galerie Kunst der Antike, Vöcklabruck, Austria; thence Kunsthandel Mieke Zilverberg, Amsterdam.
Condition:
One wing repaired, paint flaked off the gesso layer, otherwise intact.
Price:
€ 6,800
Stock number:
C2103