{{Short description|Celtic art motif}} [[File:Keltenfürst Glauberg vorne 5.JPG|thumb|The [[Glauberg]] prince wears an asymmetrical leaf-crown.]]
The '''Celtic leaf-crown''' ([[German language|German]]: {{lang|de|Blattkrone}}) is a motif of [[Celtic art]] from the early [[La Tène culture|La Tène]] period. A leaf-crown is composed of two broad lobe-shaped elements. The crowns adorn the heads of anthropomorphic figures, almost always male and often bearded. The lobes have been identified with [[European mistletoe|mistletoe]] leaves. The interpretation of this motif is doubtful, but it has been suggested to bear connotations of high status or divinity.
==History of the term== The term "leaf-crown" was introduced by art historian [[Paul Jacobsthal]] in his 1944 book ''Early Celtic Art''. This motif had been previously termed the "fish-bladder" (German: {{lang|de|Fischblasen}}) design.<ref name=Wendling/><ref name=Kaiser/>{{rp|4}} Jacobsthal wrote of the leaf-crown that it was "more than mere 'ornament'", and conjectured that it was a symbol of "superhuman beings, gods or deified mortals."<ref name=Jacobsthal>{{cite book |last=Jacobsthal |first=Paul |title=Early Celtic Art |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1944 }}</ref>{{rp|23}}{{efn|Others had made conjectures about the meaning of this motif before Jacobsthal. {{ill|Robert Knorr|de}} interpreted the lobes as wings and took the figures bearing them to be identifiable with the [[Roman god]] [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] (who wears a winged hat). {{ill|Peter Goessler|de}} took the lobes for stylised hair. Goessler and Jacobsthal roundly reject Knorr's conjecture.<ref name=Jacobsthal/>{{rp|23, fn 6}}}}
==Description and history== Leaf-crowns adorn the heads of anthropomorphic figures, almost always male{{efn|One possible exception to this is the leaf-crowned figure on the [[Waldalgesheim chariot burial|Waldalgesheim]] chariot, which has been conjecturally identified as female.<ref name=MegawArt/>{{rp|94}}}} and often bearded.{{efn|Exceptions to this rule are clustered around the [[Rhineland]] area.<ref name=Megaw01>{{cite book |date=2001 |first1=J. V. S. |last1=Megaw |first2=Ruth M. |last2=Megaw |title=Celtic Art: From Its Beginnings to the Book of Kells |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=New York |isbn=978-0-500-28265-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/celticartfromits0000mega }}</ref>{{rp|70}} One notable such exception is a [[reversible figure]] made out of gold foil, uncovered in [[Bad Dürkheim]]. Oriented one way up it depicts a clean-shaven face adorned with a leaf-crown; oriented the other way, an old, bearded man.<ref name=Armit>{{cite book |last=Armit |first=Ian |date=2012 |title=Headhunting and the Body in Iron Age Europe |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139016971 }}</ref>{{rp|114-115}}}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Bagley |first=Jennifer |chapter=Narrative and context of early La Tène art in central Europe |title=Image–Narrative–Context: Visual Narration in Cultures and Societies in the Old World |editor1-first=Elisabeth |editor1-last=Wagner-Durand |editor2-first=Barbara |editor2-last=Fath |editor3-first=Alexander |editor3-last=Heinemann |date=2019 |pages=193–213 |location=Heidelberg |publisher=Propylaeum, Fachinformationsdienst Altertumswissenschaften}}</ref>{{rp|202}} The leaf-crown is a ubiquitous motif in early La Tène art, surviving on precious metalwork and on [[Celtic stone idols|stone monuments]].<ref name=Green/>{{rp|139}} Leaf-crowns have been found as far east as [[Hořovičky]] in [[Bohemia]].<ref name=Megaw01/>{{rp|70}} Celtic [[Fibula (brooch)|fibulae]] are often decorated with leaf-crowned faces.<ref name=Harding>{{cite book |last=Harding |first=D. W. |title=The Archaeology of Celtic Art |location=London / New York |publisher=Routledge |date=2007 }}</ref>{{rp|54-57}} Such metalwork has been found in the burials of elite men and women, such as that of the [[European Archaeological Park of Bliesbruck-Reinheim|Reinheim]] 'princess'.<ref name=Kaiser>{{cite journal |title=Die figürliche Kunst der Frühlatènezeit im Rhein-Main-Gebiet |last=Kaiser |first=Ramona |pages=25–44 |journal=Berichte zur Archäologie in Rheinhessen und Umgebung |volume=9 |date=2016 |url=https://www.academia.edu/43245898 }}</ref>{{rp|15}} Some have suggested, on the basis of fragmentary archaeological evidence, that actual leaf-crowns of leather were made by the Celts (discussed below).<ref name=FS/> Sometimes the leaf-crown is depicted in concert with other motifs, such as gold [[torc]]s<ref name=Guggisberg/>{{rp|281}} or [[lotus flower]] designs,<ref name=Armit/>{{rp|107-109}} but the leaf-crown was apparently symbolically potent enough that it was often allowed to stand on its own.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kruta |first=Venceslas |title=Le corail, le vin et l'Arbre de vie : observations sur l'art et la religion des Celtes du Ve au Ier siècle avant J.-C |date=1986 |journal=Études Celtiques |volume=23 |pages=7–32 |doi=10.3406/ecelt.1986.1811 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_1986_num_23_1_1811 }}</ref>{{rp|18}}
Artefacts bearing leaf-crowns are generally dated to the early La Tène period,<ref name=Megaw01/>{{rp|74}} with the earliest dated leaf-crowns in metalwork.<ref name=PowellPreA>{{cite book |last=Powell |first=T. G. E. |date=1966 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/prehistoricart0000powe |url-access=registration |title=Prehistoric Art}}</ref>{{rp|201}} Celtic leaf-crowns belong to a period when Central Europe was open to Mediterranean influences, for example from the [[Etruscan civilisation|Etruscans]] and [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]].<ref name=Frey>{{cite book |chapter=Menschen oder Heroen? Die Statuen vom Glauberg und die frühe keltische Grossplastik |last=Frey |first=Otto-Herman |title=Das Rätsel der Kelten vom Glauberg: Glaube - Mythos - Wirklichkeit |editor1-first=Holger |editor1-last=Baitinger |editor2-first=Bernhard |editor2-last=Pinkser |location=Stuttgart |publisher=Theiss in Herder |date=2002 |pages=208–218 |doi=10.11588/propylaeumdok.00006341 |chapter-url=https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/6341/ }}</ref>{{rp|212-213}}<ref name=Megaw93>{{cite book |title=Trade and exchange in prehistoric Europe : proceedings of a conference held at the University of Bristol, April 1992 |editor1-first=Chris |editor1-last=Scarre |editor2-first=Frances |editor2-last=Healy |publisher=Oxbow Books |location=Oxford |date=1993 |chapter=Cheshire Cats, Mickey Mice, the New Europe, and Ancient Celtic Art |first1=J. V. S. |last1=Megaw |first2=Ruth M. |last2=Megaw |pages=219–232 }}</ref>{{rp|219}} There is no doubt that design elements from these cultures were adopted by the Celts and adapted to fit their belief systems.<ref name=Megaw93/>{{rp|226-227}} For example, the leaf-crown is depicted in concert with the Near Eastern [[Master of Animals]] motif on a belt-clasp found at the [[Weiskirchen]] barrow and on the {{ill|Dürrnberg beaked jug|de|Schnabelkanne vom Dürrnberg}}.<ref name=Harding/>{{rp|59-61}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Stone Knight, the Sphinx and the Hare: New Aspects of Early Figural Celtic Art |journal=Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society |volume=64 |date=1998 |pages=1–14 |last=Frey |first=Otto-Herman |doi=10.1017/S0079497X00002152 }}</ref>{{rp|11-12}} Archaeologist [[Venceslas Kruta]] has suggested that the leaf-crown arose from a combination of the [[palmette]] and lotus flower designs, both broadly Mediterranean motifs.<ref>{{cite book |title=Les Celtes: Histoire et Dictionnaire |last=Kruta |first=Venceslas |location=Quebec |chapter=Double feuille |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/LesCeltesHistoireEtDictionnaireVenceslasKrutaCs/page/n589 |pages=579–580 |publisher=Robert Laffont |date=2000 }}</ref>
Some have detected traces of the leaf-crown in later Celtic art. A [[stater]] of the [[Bodiocasses]], dating to the 2nd or 1st century BC, has an obverse depicting a human head with horn-like protrusions which [[T. G. E. Powell]] has connected with the leaf-crown.<ref name=PowellCelts>{{cite book |last=Powell |first=T. G. E. |date=1963 |title=The Celts |url=https://archive.org/details/celts0000tgep |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson }}</ref>{{rp|256-257}} Megaw has suggested that the handle-like helmet which adorns a head on the 1st-century BC [[Aylesford]] bucket perhaps represents a very late leaf-crown.<ref name=MegawArt>{{cite book |date=1970 |last=Megaw |first=J. V. S. |title=Art of the European Iron Age: A Study of the Elusive Image |location=Bath |publisher=Adams & Dart |isbn=978-0-239-00019-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/artofeuropeaniro0000mega |url-access=registration }}</ref>{{rp|119}}
==Interpretation== [[File:Viscum album11.png|thumb|Leaves of [[European mistletoe]]. The lobes of the Celtic leaf-crown have been identified with mistletoe leaves.]]
For the Celts, the head (and especially the severed head) was an extremely important motif and site of veneration.<ref name=MegawInt/>{{rp|269-270}}<ref name=Armit/>{{rp|10-12, 18-20}} As Vincent Megaw has put it, "to the Celt the human head was regarded as all-important, the heart and soul in one, the symbol of divinity and the Otherworld".<ref name=MegawInt>{{citation |last=Megaw |first=J. V. S. |date=1970 |title=Cheshire Cat and Mickey Mouse: analysis, interpretation and the art of the La Tène Iron Age |journal=Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society |volume=36 |pages=261–279 |doi=10.1017/S0079497X00013177 }}</ref>{{rp|269}} Mistletoe also seems to have been religiously important. [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] describes [[Ritual of oak and mistletoe|a Celtic ritual in which druids cut mistletoe from an oak]] and mixed it to make a fertility potion. With this context, some scholars have identified the lobes of the leaf-crown with leaves of mistletoe.<ref name=Wendling>{{cite journal |last=Wendling |first=Holger |title=Blattkrone & Mistelkult. Religion, Symbole und Herrschaft bei den frühen Kelten |journal=Salzburg Museum: Das Kunstwerk des Monats |date=2019 |volume=32 |issue=374 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38935215 }}</ref><ref name=Green/>{{rp|122}}
Important context for the leaf-crown comes from princely grave at the Celtic ''[[oppidum]]'' of [[Glauberg]]. A life-sized sandstone statue found here, called the Glauberg prince or warrior, is one the best known leaf-crowned figures in early La Tène art. Notable is that much of the equipment the person had been buried with is mirrored in the garb of the statue. This suggests there was some level of identification between the statue and the high-status person whose burial this was.<ref name=Stollner/>{{rp|119-121}} The metal lining of a leather bonnet found in Glauberg has been reconstructed by Renate Fröhlich in the shape of the leaf-crown.<ref name=FS/><ref name=Stollner>{{Cite book |chapter=Between ruling ideology and ancestor worship: The mos maiorum of the Early Celtic "Hero Graves" |last=Stöllner |first=Thomas |editor1-first=Christopher |editor1-last=Gosden |editor2-first=Sally |editor2-last=Crawford |editor3-first=Katharina |editor3-last=Ulmschneider |title=Celtic Art in Europe: Making Connections. Essays in Honour of Vincent Megaw on His 80th Birthday |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxbow Books |date=2014 |pages=119–136 }}</ref>{{rp|121}} The ceremonial [[Agris Helmet]], which bears the holes for some sort of crest, has also been suggested to have originally borne a leather leaf-crown.<ref name=FS>{{Cite book |first1=Andrew |last1=Fitzpatrick |first2=Martin |last2=Schönfelder |chapter=Ascot Hats: An Iron Age leaf crown helmet from Fiskerton, Lincolnshire? |editor1-first=Christopher |editor1-last=Gosden |editor2-first=Sally |editor2-last=Crawford |editor3-first=Katharina |editor3-last=Ulmschneider |title=Celtic Art in Europe: Making Connections. Essays in Honour of Vincent Megaw on His 80th Birthday |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxbow Books |date=2014 |pages=286–296 }}</ref>{{rp|289-290}} However, it is not clear from this whether the leaf-crown was "a real ruling attribute or if it is just a means for the dead person’s glorification for the passing into the afterlife".<ref name=Stollner/>{{rp|121}}
Associations between the leaf-crown and divinity or supernatural power appear throughout early La Tène art.<ref name=Guggisberg>{{cite book |first=M. A. |last=Guggisberg |title=Der Goldschatz von Erstfeld. Ein keltischer Bilderzyklus zwischen Mitteleuropa und der Mittelmeerwelt |series=Antiqua |volume=32 |location=Basel |publisher=Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte |date=2000 |url=https://archaeologie-schweiz.ch/pub/antiqua-32/ }}</ref>{{rp|208}} Multiple [[Janus]]-faced, leaf-crowned figures are known within early La Tène art: most prominently the [[Heidelberg]] head, [[Holzgerlingen figure]], and a two-headed sculpture from the Celtic shrine at [[Roquepertuse]] (though its leaf-crown is now broken off). These are often believed to be Celtic cult images or even depictions of a dicephalic god.<ref name=Harding/>{{rp|196}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kimmig |first=Wolfgang |title=Eisenzeitliche Grabstelen In Mitteleuropa. Versuch eines Überblicks |date=1987 |volume=12 |journal=Fundberichte aus Baden-Württemberg |doi=10.11588/fbbw.1987.0.39508 |pages=251–297 }}</ref>{{rp|273}} The lid of the Reinheim flagon is decorated with an anthropomorphic horse statuette, bearded and wearing a leaf-crown. Venceslas Kruta has suggested this statuette is a "representation of a divine being, probably of [[solar deity|a solar nature]]".{{efn|Original [[French language|French]]: "{{lang|fr|représentation d’un être divin, très probablement de nature solaire}}".<ref name=Kruta/>{{rp|45}}}}<ref name=Kruta>{{cite journal |last=Kruta |first=Venceslas |title=La place et la signification du cheval dans l'imagerie celtique |journal=Études Celtiques |volume=38 |date=2012 |pages=43–59 |doi=10.3406/ecelt.2012.2346 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_2012_num_38_1_2346 }}</ref>{{rp|43-45}} The leaf-crowned heads of the Heidelberg head, Glauberg prince, and [[Pfalzfeld obelisk]] bear a common [[Sacred lotus in religious art|lotus motif]] on their foreheads.<ref name=Armit/>{{rp|107-109}} In the ancient world, the lotus was a symbol of rebirth, eternity, and of solar gods; here it perhaps possesses a divine meaning.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kaul |first=Flemming |chapter=The not so ugly duckling – an essay on meaning |editor1-first=Christopher |editor1-last=Gosden |editor2-first=Sally |editor2-last=Crawford |editor3-first=Katharina |editor3-last=Ulmschneider |title=Celtic Art in Europe: Making Connections. Essays in Honour of Vincent Megaw on His 80th Birthday |publisher=Oxbow Books |date=2014 |pages=105–112 }}</ref>{{rp|107-110}}<ref name=Green/>{{rp|55}}
==Gallery== {{gallery |File:20181124Heidelberger Kopf.jpg |The [[Heidelberg]] head, [[Badisches Landesmuseum]].<ref name=Wendling/> |File:Kelttische Säule aus Pfalzfeld. Detaibereich mit Gesicht und Kopfbedeckung.jpg |A head from the [[Pfalzfeld obelisk]], [[Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn]].<ref name=Armit/>{{rp|107}} |File:Statue of Holzgerlingen, Googles Arts & Culture, Cropped.png |The head of the [[Holzgerlingen figure]], [[Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn]].<ref name=Wendling/> |File:Two-headed 'herm' 6017 from Roquepertuse (Marseille, Mus d'arch med).jpg |The two-headed sculpture from [[Roquepertuse]], [[Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations]].<ref name=Harding/>{{rp|196}} |File:Hallein, Keltenmuseum, 04.jpg |A jug from Moserstein, [[Keltenmuseum]].<ref name=Wendling/> |File:KMH - Schnabelkanne aus Grab 112 unterhalb der Hexenwand am Nordhang des Mosersteins am Dürnberg (4).jpg |A face on the lip of the {{ill|Dürrnberg beaked jug|de|Schnabelkanne vom Dürrnberg}}, [[Keltenmuseum]].<ref name=Wendling/> |File:Reinheimer-Pferdchen 1.JPG |An anthropomorphic horse on the lid of a bronze flagon from [[Reinheim]], [[European Archaeological Park of Bliesbruck-Reinheim]].<ref name=Green/>{{rp|122}} |File:Agrafe tete humaine 2re age fer dormans varennes 1007606.jpg |A copper fibula from Gué de la Marne, {{ill|Musée d'Épernay|fr|Musée du vin de Champagne et d'Archéologie régionale}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fibule à masque |website=Musée du vin de Champagne et d'Archéologie régionale |url=https://archeochampagne.epernay.fr/collections/le-parcours-de-visite/archeologie/fibule-a-masque/ |access-date=18 September 2024 }}</ref> |File:Grabfund Waldalgesheim04, Cropped.jpg |A head at the base of the handle of the [[Waldalgesheim chariot burial|Waldalgesheim]] flagon, [[Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn]].<ref name=MegawArt/>{{rp|79}} |File:Bronze plates from yoke, Waldalgesheim, Robert Knorr.jpg |A reconstruction of the fragmentary bronze plates from the [[Waldalgesheim chariot burial|Waldalgesheim]] chariot, [[Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn]].<ref name=MegawArt/>{{rp|93-94}} |File:Bronze phalera, La Tène culture, NM Prague, 188137, cropped.jpg |A bronze [[Horse brass|phalera]] found in [[Hořovičky]], [[National Museum (Prague)]].<ref name=Green> {{cite book |last=Green |first=Miranda |title=Celtic Art: Reading the Messages |date=1996 |publisher= Calmann & King |location=London |isbn=978-2-9783365-0-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/celticartreading0000gree |url-access=registration }}</ref>{{rp|122}} |File:Billon stater boar Baiocasses CdM Paris.jpg |A [[stater]] of the [[Bodiocasses]], [[BnF Museum]].<ref name=PowellCelts/>{{rp|258}} |File:Aylesford bucketDSCF6596.jpg |A copper head on the [[Aylesford]] bucket, [[British Museum]].<ref name=MegawArt/>{{rp|119}} }}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Baitinger, H., Pinsker, P. (eds.) ''Das Rätsel der Kelten vom Glauberg. Glaube – Mythos – Wirklichkeit''. Stuttgart (2002) * Fröhlich, R. "Experiment Glauberg. Zur Blattkrone des Keltenfürsten" ''Denkmalpflege & Kulturgeschichte'' 3 (2006): 34–36. * Jacobsthal, P. ''Early Celtic Art''. Oxford University Press (1944; reprinted 1969) * Lambrechts, P. ''L’exaltation de la Tète dans la pensée et dans l’art des Celtes''. Dissertationes archaeologicae Gandenses 2. Burges: De Tempel (1954) * Polenz, H. "Ein maskenverzierter Achsnagel der Spätlatènezeit vom Donnersberg in der Pfalz" ''Germania'' 52 (1975): 386-400.
{{Celts}}
[[Category:Celtic art]] [[Category:Crowns (headgear)]] [[Category:La Tène culture]] [[Category:Plants in art]] [[Category:Visual motifs]]