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Early Phallus Headstone with Inscription
Ref: 3276
Found in Transylvania, a transit point for many different ethnic tribes over the centuries,a large stone, carved phallus and with inscription in old Hungarian "Anno......Itt Nyugszik Az Urban boldogul kimult Har...Marton" - it must be a headstone as this reads roughly "Here lies happily resting in the Lord.." The date and name are not clear. Ottoman headstones are not quite like this, they can be pillar shaped and often mounted with a turban but are not actually phallic. There is one place, the Khalid Nabi cemetery, in N-E Iran where phallic tomb or headstones can be seen but this seems a far cry from a Hungarian tomb in Eastern Europe. So there is a story for ethnographers to unravel here in this evidently very rare piece.
Transylvania 17th-18th cent
H: 140cm (55.1in)
W: 40cm (15.7in)
D: 35cm (13.8in)
£1250
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