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Hand of Sabazios
Roman
Imperial Period
2nd–3rd century A.D.
Medium/Technique
Bronze
Dimensions
Height x width x depth: 14.5 x 4.4 x 4 cm (5 11/16 x 1 3/4 x 1 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Benjamin and Lucy Rowland Fund
Accession Number2006.1893
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
The principal archaeological trace of the cult of Sabazios, a Thracian god associated with Dionysus, consists of about one hundred bronze sculptures in the form of human hands. Since Sabazios was worshiped primarily in houses and other makeshift settings, a desire for portability may explain why these hands were generally made smaller than life-size. Most are decorated with fauna, flora, and inanimate objects. Among the symbols visible in this view are a snake (coiled around the wrist and stretching up the back of the hand), a turtle (at the base of the thumb), an eagle (perched at the tips of the extended middle fingers), and a pinecone (on the tip of the thumb).
Catalogue Raisonné
Highlights: Classical Art (MFA), p. 044.
DescriptionHollow-cast in the form of a human wrist and right hand with long, thin fingers, thumb, index- and middle-fingers extended, ring-finger and pinky bent into the palm. A snake is coiled around the wrist and stretches across the back of the hand, its head the projecting above the knuckle of the ring-finger; also on the back of the hand are a frog and a lizard, as well as several inanimate objects: below the snake, a braided whip; above the snake, two flutes (one straight, one curved) at left, and a pair of cymbals at right. On the side of the hand, just below the thumb, a turtle; on the tip of thumb, a pinecone. On the front side of the wrist, right of center, an offering table. At the base of palm, a disc-shaped object, probably a loaf of bread; in the center of the palm, an egg-shaped object, perhaps another pinecone. Extending between the tips of the index- and middle- fingers, an eagle, perched on a stylized thunderbolt. Sabazios Hand is part of the worship of a Thracian/Anatolian deity connected with Jupiter; hands like these stood in sanctuaries attached to poles and were carried in processions.
ProvenanceGeorges Gorse (b. 1915 - d. 2002), France. July 12, 2005, anonymous sale, Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, sold to Charles Ede, Ltd., London; 2006. sold by Ede to the MFA. (Accession date: December 13, 2006)