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An exceptionally rare, important and unpublished Greco-Roman Terracotta Medical ex-voto, representing an eye, dating to approximately 200 BC.
This remarkable ex-voto, or votive artifact shows the left eye of a dedicant and is unusually well modelled for an object of this type. The upper and lower eyelids, orbit, inner and outer canthus, iris and sclera are all rendered naturalistically. The iris and pupil can be seen recessed within the outer white (or sclera) of the eye. This is an important observation and one which points a finger as to the cause of the dedicant's illness, for which he was seeking help - bacterial conjunctivitis due to the ancient disease, Trachoma.
Votives such as this are extremely rare on the art market and can mostly only be found in major museums. They represent the ancient belief that a gift to a God can be given in exchange for a favour, received or anticipated. For example an ancient Greek man may be suffering from an ailment of his leg and so dedicate a silver plaque to the God of medicine, Asklepios, in the hope that he will cure him. Alternatively, he may have already been cured and in fulfillment of a vow he made to Asklepios, he may dedicate the plaque. This belief may appear strange to us, as it reduces man's relationship with his Gods to a kind of "religious marketplace". However, this practice was very common in ancient times and actually exists to this day in some modern religions.
In most cases we have no way of knowing what a votive was dedicated for, which could include good fortune, safe passage, a new baby etc. Many votive artifacts are either dedication stones, statues of a God or simple inscriptions recording that a dedicant "gladly and willingly fulfilled his vow" - "VOTUM SOLUIT LIBENS MERITO" in Latin. However, in rare cases we can say that a votive is "medical" in use, that is to say it was dedicated in thanks for, or in anticipation of cure. This artifact is one such example. Parallels to this piece have been excavated in Asklepia (healing shrines) both in Greece and Italy. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Asklepion at Corinth, where a number of eye votives of similar manufacture have been found.
A fascinating paper by Chaviara-Karahaliou1 explores Ancient Eye Votives from the perspective of a physician. The paper speculates that eye injuries would have been common in ancient farming communities and cites diseases such as trachoma, ectropions and dacryocystitis as those which may have occurred with highest frequency. The paper discusses Trachoma as being a likely common condition in ancient times, and further interprets some rather crudely manufactured eye votives as being examples of ectropions and other diseases. The realistic nature of this depiction however allows us to infer more convincingly that it does indeed represent the ancient disease, and is not simply an artistic way of representing the eye.
This is an important artifact, in need of publication and further study.
Width: 3 1/2 inches.
Height: 2 3/4 inches.
Depth: 1 inch.
Provenance: Ex. Collection of Bernhard Degenhart, acquired in the 1930's. Bernhard Degenhard was an acclaimed scholar and author in the field of art. He was born in 1907 in Monaco and worked in various institutions throughout his life including the Max Planck-Institute and the Kunsthistorisches Institut.
Links:
http://www.wheaton.edu/Theology/Faculty/green/WIP/GGREEN/Corinth/11A-11.HTM
http://clendening.kumc.edu/dc/rm/a_113p.jpg
http://www.vroma.org/images/raia_images/index5.html
References:
1 S. CHAVIARA-KARAHALIOU, Eye votives in the Asklepieion of ancient Corinth, Documenta Ophthalmologica 74: 135-139, 1990 (this publication can be provided to the buyer on request).
Bibliography:
"Votives and Talismans" in Asclepius, Gerald D. Hart, 2000, p.91
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