N.inv. Pigorini/ Serie W

71973 / HT Wa 1593

The single-hole hanging nodule 71973 / HT Wa 1593 bears a seal impression representing a “Bird-woman, with bucranium head” (Alberti et alii 2013, 9).

The nodule bears a Linear A sign on face C.

AB 81/ KU

Apparently, this sign was used with different meanings in various contexts. It might refer to a commodity (i.e. an agricultural or textile item), to a specific personnel category, or to sums and quantities (Negri 2002-2003, 100; Montecchi 2019, 282).

This single-hole hanging nodule was discovered in the North-West Quarter, between Room 13, also known as “Stanza dei Sigilli”, and Portico 11, like most of the cretulae probably fallen from the upper floor, which collapsed due to the fire that destroyed the Villa (Halbherr 1903, 30; Levi 1925, 73; for the provenance of administrative documents, see Militello 1988, 1992, 2001, 2011).

Measures 2.0  x 1.65  x 1.3 cm

Scribe Wa 93

The seal impression HT 105 recurs 61 times. In particular, once in the “Pigorini corpus” (Del Freo 2002-2003,65-67).

The motif represents a bucranium on a winged female figure body with a folded skirt. The head of the bull blends with the woman’s torso, where the breasts might also be the bull’s eyes, and the wings its horns. (Levi 1925-26, 120). Nevertheless, breaking it up and turning it around may give us hints for other readings; dividing it horizontally, and assuming the reading of a bucranium in the upper part, the under part then, instead of a folded skirt, might be a boar’s tusk helmet (McGowan 2018, 380). Turning the nodule of 180° again, the motif would resemble a papyrus leaf with an accentuated veining at the center and two smaller stems rising on both sides (McGowan 2018, 382). For its rendering, it could be a workshop variant or the product of different artists (Weingarten 1988, 92)

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