Etruscan Terracotta Antefix with Gorgon

Culture: Etruscan

Period: around 500 B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 27.6 cm x 30.5 cm

Price: Sold

Ref: 4160

Provenance: From the collection of the art dealer Nicolas Koutoulakis (1910-1996), Paris and Geneva.

Condition: Fragment of beautiful quality. Unrestored.

Description: Large terracotta antefix with the head of a Gorgon and abundantly preserved paint. The evil-repelling face of the Gorgon with an expressive grin and a protruding tongue. In the corners of the mouth strong canines are painted. The eyes are wide open and starring at the viewer. The hair cascades on the sides in two long, straight strands. The forehead is framed with a series of black snail curls forming the fringe or bangs and mirrored below by a series of sinuous, stylised curls in red representing the snakes, which are generally associated with a gorgoneion. The head is framed by red and black tongues, forming a fanned aureole to the face. On the back a round exclusion, used to mount the antefix on the corner of a shrine or on the temple roof. See for the type of the antefix in the collection of the Victoria University in Wellington with the object number VUW Classics 2003.1.