Zoomorphic head. Sculptural group of Cerrillo Blanco (Porcuna, Jaén, Spain)

A round-lumped sculpture made of white calcarenite stone representing a gripho head. The head stands out for its great expressive force both front and profile. The crest is divided into three large waves ahead and from it starts a row of frizzy hairs that continue through the head and the nose. Attached to this crest of hair are both ears raised and of equine characteristics. In front of the ridge and the ears separated by an incision in the center of the forehead come out two hair-coats that follow through the face in soft waves finished in some volutes. Two other similar and longer crenches come out behind the ears and from the frizzy hair of the morrillo. The eyes are almonds and saltons. They are very well marked with deep incisions that also indicate the tears. The superciliary arches are protruding and marked with five parallel incisions that start from the beak and are lost under the crench of the face. The beak is marked with a double parallel incision and a strong border that marks its commissioning. The neck is very strong giving a sense of strength to this piece. It belongs to the group of mythological animals of the sculptural group of Cerrillo Blanco. Chronology: 440-400 B.C. Dimensions: Height: 46 cm Width: 30 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. There are figures of isolated mythological animals that do not interact with any of the characters belonging to the sculptural group. These animals would constitute the metaphorical bases of the landscapes expressed in the monument. Therefore the pairs of animals could go at the ends of each step of the front of the tower. In general, five groups are established: First and at the base of the tower, the sphinxes of which there is only one example but of which the turn of the head to the side could justify the existence of a second similar sculpture and with the head in opposite position. Both would protect the monument at its base, marking from the beginning that it is a mythical area, as the lions did in the Pajarillo. The struggles of the wolf with the lamb, of which there is a second fragmented example of two animals one fierce and another meek, would frame the duels. The grifo-lion with snake that poses its claws on the bracket and the second tap whose action is unknown, because only the head is preserved, would complete the corners of the step of the zoomachias. The harpy or siren and the eagle would frame the mythical Oikos. The last couple formed by the two Hispanic goats around the body of the divinity would close the fifth level, but this figure is included in the group of The Ancestors. 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.