Plaques with Goddesses and Ibexes

These nine nearly identical gold plaques are decorated with embossed female goddesses and ibexes. Though the decoration is possibly inspired from West Asian images (such as those seen in ivories from the Neo-Assyrian capital of Nimrud, which are contemporary with these pieces), 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 West Asia during the end of the Cypro-Geometric and Cypro-Archaic periods. Elites harnessed these forms to visually assert their own power, often in funerary contexts.

These plaques could have connected with one another at their vertical hinges to form crowns, which may even be referenced in the goddesses’ own headgear. Other similar representations of this object type come from the West Asia and Greece, often referred to as the polos crown. 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.