A Winged Goddess of Wine on an Electrum Plaque

Abstract

In 1968 the Bezalel National Museum of Jerusalem, Israel — now incorporated into the Israel Museum — acquired a small but splendid and significant piece of ancient jewellery. As it came from the art-market in New York, it is thus unfortunately without provenance. I now publish it by kind permission of the Chief Curator of Archaeology, Mrs. Miriam Tadmor, and the Curator of the Department of Neighbouring Cultures, Mrs. Rivka Merhav.Here is, first, the technical description of the piece.A figure representing a goddess, nude, four-winged and facing frontally is holding in each hand a bunch of grapes. She is raised in relief from the background of an almost square electrum plaque, framed by a plaited wire border set between plain wire on each side. The frame is decorated on each of its four sides with large globules, numbering eight in all, surrounded by granulation. The goddess formerly had long hair falling in two locks of coiled wire one each side of her face (one of these — that on the right, which showed signs of being melted, has been lost before the object first appeared on the market, presumably in antiquity (Plates VIII, IXa)).