Published Terracotta Idol of the Hamangia Culture

Culture: Southeastern Europe

Period: around 5000 B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 7.7 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 5246

Provenance: Rassia Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland, Dr. Giancarlo Ligabue (1931-2015).

Condition: A hardly visibly restoration on the right thigh, otherwise very beautifully preserved.

Description: Important and repeatedly published terracotta idol of the Neolithic Hamangia culture on the west coast of the Black Sea in today's Romania and Bulgaria. The seated fertility goddess with steatopygic forms. The overly wide arms point forward in a semicircle and merge directly into the pointed breasts. Underneath a bulging belly fold which also goes around the body. It rests on the far protruding, massive thighs which end in pointy feet at the front. The neck is triangular and merges directly into the stylized head with impressed, round eyes on the sides. The entire body is decorated with impressed dotted and line decoration. Around the neck a multirow necklace. The bottom is flat. The rare and important idol is published several times, amongst others in: Ligabue Magazine No. 14, 1989, pages 26-27, as well as in Giancarlo Ligabue and Gabriele Rossi-Osmida “Dea Madre”, Milan 2006, pages 166-167.