Gold amuletic pendant
Made of sheet in the form of a 'manu fica', the fisted hand with the thumb thrust between the index and middle fingers, depicted wearing a coiled bracelet, with an incised bracelet around the wrist, the suspension loop at the top
Note
The manu fica is an ancient obscene gesture, intended to figuratively represent sexual union. It was used to ward the evil eye, apparently on the assumption that evil can be repelled by obscenity. The fica (fig in Latin) was a fruit sacred to Bacchus, and associated by the Romans with female fertility and eroticiscm.
Period
Roman period, 2nd century B.C.
Dimension
H.
2.79 cm (1 3⁄32 in)
Coins and Antiquities, United Kingdom
Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above in 1974
Adolf Greifenhagen, Schmuckarbeiten in Edelmetall vol. 2, 1970/1975, 23 pl. 14, 6
