Woman with child. Sculptural group of Cerrillo Blanco (Porcuna, Jaén, Spain)

A sculpture of round bundle made of white calcarenite stone. She belongs to the group of ancestors and is known as “Woman with Child.” The character is upright frontally but a little inclined forward precisely to hold the child. With his left hand holds the wrist of a child, from whose hand remains of the fingers attached to the statue have remained. He has a slightly advanced left leg. Regarding her clothing, the woman wears three clothes: the innermost is a robe or shirt with a V-neckline, on it there is a smooth tunic of straight neckline that covers her whole body and that has no ornament and finally, a mantle that covers her whole, forming in her front two wings or peaks finished in plugs and decorated with bands or oblique folds. In the collarbone it has a small embellishment shaped like a guitar, which could be a jewel or brooch. At the level of the left knee are the remains of what could be a foot or other child hand. Chronology: 440-400 B.C. Dimensions: Height: 98 cm Width: 36 cm Thickness: 32 cm The sculptural group of Cerrillo Blanco was found in 1975 in the municipality of Porcuna (Jaén). This set constitutes nowadays the most important Iberian sculptural group of the known so far. It is composed of more than forty pieces that represent heroic struggles of men with each other or men with animals, hunting scenes, images of fantastic animals or important characters. The sculptural group of Cerrillo Blanco would be integrated into a possible staggered monument as a tower in which the history of a lineage is expressed through the ages of the prince, in a context in which the animals shape with their presence the different landscapes of the narrated history. The whole has enough elements to be represented as a whole, programmed from its beginning. The initiatory struggle in distant territory and the mourning with death between aristocrats, zoomachia and monomachias reproduce the two activities that in the sculptural representation of Porcuna more fit the aristocratic imaginary. Porcuna also offers the possibility of reading this double activity in two ages, in children when it shows the learning of both activities in the forms of small hunting and ruled struggle, and in adulthood with the tragic component added. The group of ancestors consists of five sculptures: This sculpture stands out for its great size, since it stands out above the other human representations. He stands and shoes holding the front legs of two male caprids. The size of the caprids is also oversize and the accentuated sex, visible in the rear view is a sign of their fruitful power. The horns are supported on the shoulders and adapted to the human body. The face of the cemetery is shown frontal with the wrinkles on the eyes that highlight his gaze. The frontality of the group insists on its character as an offering. - Woman with snake: it is a figure of simple structure and size, dense and closed in itself. She is dressed in a fine shirt and two robes. On top of it is a thick mantle that covers the back of the body, falling to the feet. The right arm sticks to the side, peeking under the mantle it controls; while the left arm bends through the elbow, so it is possible to think that it could hold a lost object. On the back goes up a serpent whose head serps descending on the lady’s chest, looking for food. It is a representation of a divinity or singular character that gives to drink the animal that belongs to it, a snake. It can also be the representation of a mythical ancestor, since the snake belongs to the space of the beyond the ancestors. - Woman with child. - Male with manipule: is the highest and most proportionate figure in the group. It highlights the richness of his dress, which not only covers but, above all, accentuates the harmony of the body, discovers it. The overabundance of tissue envelops it: the surplus folds fall into an orderly zigzag on his arms and the dress follows the movement of the body, obeys it and marks it. The man moves forward, the right leg forward guides him, and the body in motion is transparent behind. Some torques or necklace, hanging over the center, mark his neck and a bracelet adorns his naked left arm. Together with this group we must include a statue that represents a seated character. According to Olmos, this set of ancestors was located at the top of the tower. But it takes a step further by identifying them as the representation of the mythical Oikos, in which not only are the ancestors, but also the animals that like the steer that show the richness of the house of the lineage, in the same way that the young ancestor irrigates with his semen the land to fertilize it. Bibliography: Chapa, T. (2015): “Los escultores del Cerrillo Blanco de Porcuna,” in A. Ruiz y M. Molinos (coord.): Jaén, ibera land. 40 years of research and transfer. University of Jaén. Jaén. Olmos, R. (2002): “The sculptural groups of Cerrillo Blanco de Porcuna (Jaén). A convergent iconographic reading essay.” Spanish Archive of Archaeology, 75 107-122. Ruiz, A. and Molinos, M. (2015): “The sculptural group of Cerrillo Blanco, Porcuna.” In Arturo Ruiz and Manuel Molinos (Eds.). Jaén, Iberian land 40 Years of research and transfer. University of Jaén. 67-84. Torrecillas, J. F. (1985): The late period cemetery of Cerrillo Blanco. Institute of Giennenses Studies. Jaén.