Esfinge (Siglo VII a.C.)

sketchfab

Human: Winged Sphinx with a Pschent Crown, resting on a rectangular bronze plaque with intricate piqueteado work at its base. The figure is depicted lying down, with its tail curled upwards in a serpentine manner. According to Jiménez Ávila, this piece was likely crafted in a Phoenician workshop in Southern Iberia. Stylistic similarities and manufacturing processes suggest it's part of a ritual ensemble along with the Thymiaterium documented at the same site, the Higuerones Mound. The sphinx would serve as the handle of a libanotrix or incense box that was burned in the thymiaterium, providing an apotropaic function to safeguard sacred substances essential to the ceremony's character.