Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/97

Bronzes, Statuettes, Votive Boa- the commune of Nuraghus, close to ancient Valentia, 1 leaves no doubt upon its having been a workshop. 2 This supposition was confirmed, moreover, by the state in which bronzes in a huge, shallow earthen vase, o m. 70 c, were found ; numbering swords broken in several pieces, weapons, implements, boats, handles, fibulae, etc., showing traces more or less of having seen service; being in fact, old metal articles, sent there to be melted down again. On the other hand, sockets, so plentiful in the Teti re- pository, are unknown at Forraxi. This fact in itself is sufficient to prove that the Teti figures had a votive character analogous to that of the statues exhumed on the site of Phoenician and Cypriote sanctuaries. Moreover, pedestals with statuettes still attached have been encountered on other points of Sardinia, but when- ever separated they were invariably discovered in the immediate neigh- bourhood. 3 It is probable that most of these statuettes were set upon sockets with the double purpose of preserv- ing them against damp arising from the Boor, and of their being easily seen by all. They form two distinct classes : the first comprises the so- called idols ; whilst the other, far away the most numerous, exhibits ordinary mortals ; to this the small clay figures of the same series seem naturally to belong, save that their exceedingly archaic character and rough manipulation forbid details of dress, and even the attitude to be clearly seen or defined. 4 This is not applicable to bronzes, for although crude, the metal admitted of greater sharp- ness of outline, resulting in clearness of aspect. Almost all the statuettes show one hand, the right, as a rule, uplifted in sign of 308-311, Plates XVII., Fig. 87.— Statuette from Teti. Height, 19 c. Cagliari Museum. From Wallet. pp. 1 See N issardi's Report, in Notizie delli scavi, XVIII. 2 The name Forraxi, fornax, " kiln," sufficiently determines its purpose. 3 Some, for instance, were picked up at Uta and Lanusei (Spano, Antico Larario Sardo di Uta, Boll., p. 187, 1857). 4 Bollettino, p. 146, Plate VII. figs. 1, 2, 1884.