Vatican Museums

This breastplate was worn along with the fibula belonging to the deceased, and appeared literally covered in gold before its astonished discoverers. It is formed of a single shaped sheet of metal with complex embossed decorations, executed using different punches, and structured in strips with serial motifs around a central emblem. Starting from the external strip, the decorations comprise: uniform triangles (so-called wolf’s teeth); a grazing male ibex; a gryphon; a chimera; a pegasus; a rear-facing lion with a lotus flower in its mouth; a grazing deer; a winged woman in a tunic with a lotus flower sceptre; a gryphon; two strips with a winged woman in a tunic alternated with a rear-facing lion with a lotus flower in its mouth, and another with a gryphon. In the central emblem, the following motifs are presented in series, in a series of overlapping registers: male figure between two rearing lions held by their hind legs (so-called “lord of the animals”, tamer of wild animals and living beings), rear-facing lions with lotus flowers in their mouths, a winged woman in a tunic with wild animals (“lady of the animals”), gryphons; and in the exergue, Phoenician palmettes and wolf’s teeth.