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PREHISTORIC ART
in IRELAND
For details of arts & culture
during the Pleistocene and
Holocene epochs, see:
Irish Stone
Age Art
Mainly megalithic architecture
Irish Bronze
Age Art
Celtic metalwork, tomb-building
Irish Iron Age
Art
La Tene Celtic culture, sculpture
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Description and Composition
The Venus of Brassempouy - the surviving
head and neck of the original figure - was sculpted from mammoth ivory.
The carving is roughly 3.5 cm in height, 2.2 cm deep and 1.9 cm wide.
Unlike the other venuses found at Brassempouy and elsewhere, this particular
one contains clear facial features of forehead, brows, eyes, nose but
no mouth. The top and sides are incised with a representation of braided
hair or an Egyptian-style headdress.
Date
The Venus of Brassempouy has been assigned
to the Gravettian or Upper Périgordian culture of the Upper Paleolithic
period - the last part of the early Stone Age, and dated to approximately
23,000 BCE.
Other Venus Statuettes
The Venus of Brassempouy was created during
the same period as several other similar figurines, including the Venuses
of Dolní Vestonice (Czech Republic), Willendorf (Austria), Lespugue
(France), Savignano (Italy) and the limestone Venus of Kostenki (Russia).
That said, the realistic facial detail added by her ivory-carver makes
her a unique specimen of venus art. Sadly, we remain in the dark about
the rest of her body, which was destroyed during the later era of Antiquity.
Museum Display
The Venus of Brassempouy is lodged at the
Musée d'Archéologie Nationale near Paris, and is usually
accessible to the public only during short temporary exhibitions of Stone
Age art. A replica is on display in the Maison de la Dame at Brassempouy,
along with replicas of the other figurines unearthed from the Grotte du
Pape, as well as other famous venus sculptures from the Upper Paleolithic:
such as those from Willendorf, Lespugue, Mal'ta and Dolní Vestonice.
Note: these venuses are not connected with
the Lower Paleolithic figurines known as the Venus
of Berekhat Ram and the Venus of Tan-Tan.
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