COLLECTION STUDY · FEMALE EX-VOTOS

Four offerers

Four bronzes, one same formula

Four female bronze figures allow comparison of how the same offering gesture was represented.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Image of Four offerers — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction; not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

A study by the National Archaeological Museum compares four female bronze ex-votos: two kept in the MAN, one in the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya and another in the Real Academia de la Historia. All represent a standing woman offering a vessel.

The coincidence of type, iconography and details allows investigation of moulds, series and copies. It does not by itself prove that the four pieces came from a single mould, workshop or sanctuary, nor that they portray four identifiable women.

The gesture of offering a vessel makes visible a ritual action and a codified way of representing the clothed body. The person, the contained substance and the recipient deity are not named in the figures.

Bringing together today objects dispersed among three institutions is an editorial comparison supported by a scientific publication, not the reconstruction of an archaeological assemblage found together.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: the publication identifies four bronzes held in the MAN, the MAC and the RAH, belonging to the same iconographic type of a standing lady offering a vessel. Interpretation and caution: reproduction, shared mould, workshop, original provenance and recipient of the gesture require individual analysis and are not all resolved.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue
Location: Collections of the MAN, MAC and Real Academia de la Historia · ancient provenances unevenly documented
Material: Cast bronze
Context: Published comparison of four female ex-votos
Classification: Iberian collection or explicit interpretive resource
Visual reference: Izquierdo Peraile 2002 · plates of the set conserved in MAN, MAC and RAH

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

THE CURRENT OBJECT

Its date is not sufficiently established to place it on the timeline. We keep it here, separate from the dated objects.

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Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue

Four offerers

Iberians

Comparative set; dating must be resolved per piece.

Current record

Bronze23 dated objects

1 / 23In the centre: Jue

Also connected, without a comparable date (5)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

Daegok-ri grave goodsGojoseon and early Korea · from c. 5th century BCE
Early metallurgyAncient China · c. 1900–1500 BCE
Iron changes the frontierGojoseon and early Korea · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE
The workshop inside the ditchYayoi Japan · 4th century BCE–3rd century CE, peak in Middle and Late Yayoi
Weapons under the LakeCeltic worlds · Mainly 3rd–1st centuries BCE

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Casting

Current object, without a comparable date: Four offerers.

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Early metallurgy · c. 1900–1500 BCE · Ancient China
Piece-mold casting · c. 1600–1046 BCE · Ancient China

Figurines

Current object, without a comparable date: Four offerers.

Hohle Fels · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Willendorf · ≈29,500 years · Prehistory
Brno II Articulated Figure · ≈28,000 years cal BP · by funerary association · Prehistory
Dolní Věstonice I · ≈29,000–27,000 years · Prehistory
Lespugue · ≈28,000 years · Prehistory
Kostenki I · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Zaraysk Bison · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Worshiper of Tell Asmar · Towards 2900–2600 BCE · Sumer
Offering 4 · c. 800–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Kushite king · c. 721–664 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Iberians
Shabti of Psamtek · 570–526 BCE · Ancient Egypt
La Venta grave goods · ca. 600–400 BCE · Maya worlds
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
Thracian Gladiator from Cádiz · 67–100 CE · Etruscans and Rome

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Human imagery

Current object, without a comparable date: Four offerers.

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Before Persia · Central core c. seventeenth century BCE; Neo-Elamite additions between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Lararium of Vilauba · Roman period · Etruscans and Rome
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Quinkan Country · Regional art up to ≈27,000 BP · modern continuity · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory
The Thracian Horseman · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE · Thracians

Worship and offerings

Current object, without a comparable date: Four offerers.

Uruk Vase · ca. 3300–3000 BCE · Sumer
Worshiper of Tell Asmar · Towards 2900–2600 BCE · Sumer
Statue of Ebih-Il · Towards 2400 BCE · Sumer
Before Phoenicia · 20th–18th centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Jue · c. sixteenth century BCE · Ancient China
Rubber before the stadium · c. 1600–1200 BCE for the oldest specimens · Maya worlds
Wooden faces · c. 1600–1000 BCE, in several phases · Maya worlds
Liding · 12th–11th centuries BCE · Ancient China
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Phoenicians
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Iberians
The invisible mosaic · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Offering 4 · c. 800–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Uni was also Astarte · Towards 510 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The god on the roof · Towards 510–500 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Thoth in the form of a baboon · 664–30 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Poroina Mare Rhyton · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Thracians
Eight voices in one hand · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Thirty-nine buried bells · Buried towards the 1st century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
Betatun altar · 1st century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians
Kongo crucifix · 16th–17th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A tradition that invents · collected in 1993 or 1995 · Batwa / Twa histories
Lararium of Vilauba · Roman period · Etruscans and Rome
Livestock and mounds · c. 2050–1500 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Rome learns in terracotta · End of the sixth century BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Soma stones · Rigvedic strata; later ritual tradition · Vedic and later Indian worlds
The altar cord · Approximate composition and transmission c. 800–500 BCE, with revisions · Vedic and later Indian worlds
The Thracian Horseman · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE · Thracians
Translating faith · 16th–18th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

Losing a wax does not impede repeating a model

To understand the technical question posed by these bronzes it helps to separate the model from the casting mould. The Met's conservation explanation distinguishes direct casting, which consumes the original wax, from indirect procedures that produce new waxes from a conserved model. The refractory investment is then broken to release the metal. It is a comparative casting explanation, not a demonstration that these four offerers followed a concrete procedure. It helps to ask what shared details come from modelling, what from reproduction and what from later hand-finishing.

Museum · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Richard E. Stone, Direct versus Indirect Casting of Small Bronzes (2007), comparative technical referenceAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

Expand this information and consult its provenance

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Four offerers

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

Four offerers

Jue

Bull-leaping

Fu Hao’s burial goods

Liding

Talayotic sword

Tribute to Assyria

Before Etruscans and Rome

The lute-shaped dagger

Kushite king

The great Greek krater of Vix

Scorțaru cauldron

Vix Tomb

Yan knife-money in the Gojoseon sphere

A coin with the memory of a blade

The blade became straight

Geometry in very fine lines

Eight voices in one hand

The Shield that Did Not Fight

Fibula from Lancia

A sky over the liver

Hand of Irulegui

Thirty-nine buried bells

Torreáguila fountain spout

A closer look

Losing a wax does not impede repeating a model

Where it is held

Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid)

Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya

Real Academia de la Historia

Sources and references

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