Celtic Bronze Protome of a Boar

Culture: Middle Europe

Period: 1st century B.C. to 1st century A.D.

Material: Bronze

Dimensions: 4 cm long

Price: Sold

Ref: 5128

Provenance: From an English private collection in West Yorkshire.

Condition: A small casting defect on the snout, otherwise intact.

Description: Finely worked out bronze protome in form of a running boar. The snout long and cylindrical, the mouth grooved. The forelegs are far stretched out with the hooves worked out. The ears raised, the back finely rounded. The protome possibly served as an attachment on a vessel. Hogs were holy animals for the Celts, who believed that they originated from the “otherworld”. Therefore depictions of boars are found as funerary offerings, as crests, as standards and as decoration on torques. And not to forget: A hog brings fortune until today. Mounted.