How the miniature “Senone Celt Bust (1:10)” came about

The Senones, the most southerly of the Celtic peoples to penetrate the Italian peninsula, established themselves along the mid-Adriatic occupying, according to Tito Livio, the territory between the “Utens” (Ronco) and the “Aesis” (Esino) which until then had been controlled by the Piceni and the Etruscans, and which today extends approximately between the regions of Rimini and Ancona.

 

The bust, in fact, represents a Senones Celt of Central-Eastern Italy which is inspired by the findings from excavations at Moscano di Fabriano and at Santa Paolina di Filottrano in the Marche region, dating to around 360 BC. The tomb of the Moscano warrior is that of a horseman, in that the harnesses of a horse were found among the remains. It is an isolated tomb, unlike that at Santa Paolina which is part of a necropolis. Among the finds at the latter one, of particular importance is the sheath of the sword made up by two blades, the top one made of bronze and the bottom one of iron. The bronze blade is what distinguishes this burial mostly, because the embossed decorations that are on it probably represent one of the first examples of the so-called “Vegetal Style” or the Waldalgesheim style, a name that derives from the locality of the same name where the first finds of this type were discovered. We would like to think, and several scholars agree, that this style did not originate in Central Europe, but, because of the strong Mediterranean Etruscan, and mainly Greek, influences from which it is inspired, it was elaborated in the Celtic-Italian sphere. From the finds at Santa Paolina, we have also reproduced the helmet with the original trident crest giving our own interpretation to the organic elements which were destroyed (feathers and horsehair).