Horse fibula from Lancia

Bronze zoomorphic fibula representing a stylised, schematic image of a horse and rider, missing the spring and pin. The animal’s body is decorated with punched concentric circles and has a head under its muzzle. The horse is remarkable for its large size, excellent workmanship and the rings hanging from its mane and tail, which make a sound when the piece is moved.
Fibulae are brooches that were used to secure cloaks and other garments, but they also indicated the social status of the wearer. Horse fibulae are considered symbols of the male equestrian elite of the inland plateau, although in the late Iron Age these pieces spread to other Indo-European areas of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition to representing horses—and riders, as on this fibula from Lancia—they had a symbolic meaning associated with death. In the cosmogony of their wearers, the horse was a psychopomp animal that escorted the dead to the afterlife, a vehicle associated with the sun as evidenced by the decorative circles. The human head hanging from the horse’s snout is believed to be the trophy of a vanquished foe or the soul of the deceased.
The fibula belonged to Juan Bautista Crooke y Navarrot, Count of Valencia de Don Juan (1829–1904), and later entered the collection of Antonio Vives, who sold it to the National Archaeological Museum in 1913.