Exvote. Triton. Phoenician culture, IV-III century B.C.

Triton-shaped votive offering. Phoenician culture, IV-III century BC.
Terracotta.
Provenance: Collection of Maurice Druon. Paris 1918-2009. Druon was Minister of Culture of France
between 1973 and 1974.
Good condition, no restorations.
Measurements: 32 x 27 cm.

The marine god Triton, of Greek origin, has been represented in this Phoenician ex-voto with a stylized face framed by a beard that gives him an aristocratic bearing. The muscular torso curves at the level of the hips, growing to the back with a long tail. Probably in origin it could have been making sound a conch shell. It follows the Greek precepts in terms of representation with the torso of a man and the lower part of a fish. Legend has it that Triton lived with his parents, Poseidon and Amphitrite, in a golden palace at the bottom of the sea. He is often depicted with a conch shell that plays like a trumpet. The Phoenician culture, as later the Roman, would inherit this figure reinterpreting its symbolism. Here, adopting an ex-vota function, he gives good fortune to the sailors.