PHOENICIAN FAIENCE GODDESS HEAD IN A GOLD RING

Ca. 500-400 BC. Phoenician. A beautiful Phoenician faience gem portraying a female figure set into a later gold ring with an oval bezel, a circular band and flared shoulders. Excellent condition; wearable. The iconography suggests that the faience gem might portray Tanit, the chief goddess of Carthage, one of the most important Phoenician cities. Although Tanit seems to have had some connection with the heavens, she was also a mother goddess and fertility symbols often accompany her representations. She was probably the consort of Baal Hammon (or Amon), the chief god of Carthage, and was often given the attribute “face of Baal.” Although Tanit did not appear at Carthage before the 5th century BC, she soon eclipsed the more established cult of Baal Hammon and, in the Carthaginian area at least, was frequently listed before him on the monuments. The Phoenicians were merchants, traders, and colonizers who probably arrived from the Persian Gulf about 3000 BC. By the 2nd millennium BC, they had colonies in the Levant, North Africa, Anatolia, and Cyprus. They traded wood, cloth, dyes, embroideries, wine, and decorative objects; and wood carving became their specialities, and the work of Phoenician goldsmiths and metalsmiths was well known. To learn more about the Phoenicians and their art production, see Martin, S. R. (2017). The Art of Contact: Comparative Approaches to Greek and Phoenician Art. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Size: D: 21.18mm / US: 11 5/8 / UK: X; 4.2g. Provenance: Property of a North London gentleman; previously acquired on the UK/European art market before 2000