Plaques with Goddesses and Floral Elements

These seven nearly identical gold plaques are stamped with substantial imagery. Rosettes fill most of the surface area; they frame in lotus blossoms at the bottom of the plaque. In the center of the plaques, two figures flank vegetal motifs under a winged sun-disk. Though the decoration is possibly inspired by images from ancient Western Asia, the plaques were more likely created in Cyprus. Similar plaques have been found in elite burials throughout the island. These motifs, stamped upon thin gold, demonstrate intensified connections between Cyprus and the Western Asia during the end of the Cypro-Geometric and Cypro-Archaic periods. Elites used these forms to visually assert their own power.

These plaques could have connected with one another at their vertical hinges to form crowns. Other similar representations of this object type come from West Asia and Greece, often referred to as polos crowns. These are high cylindrical crowns worn by goddesses of West Asia, seen in Syro-Anatolian orthostat reliefs and ivories. Alternatively, they may have been sewn into garments.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Found near Latakia [according to dealer Fahim Kouchakji]; Baurat Adolf Schiller; Galerie Bachstitz, The Hague, 1929; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1929, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.