My very own Imp once belonged to my Grandfather who won it in the late sixties/early seventies as a trophy for a bowls competition. Since that time this 16cm tall figure has been broken, repaired, broken, repaired; finally painted and left safely upon a high shelf. I remember my Grandmother recalling how a friend or neighbour was shocked that she should allow such a devilish thing to be brought into the house as no doubt bad luck or worse would follow!!!
Has any of the commentators on these imps mentioned yet that the face has strongly Neanderthaloid features? Their representation as sort-of satyrs is traditional also, and that occurs with the Scottish Urisks as well.
ReplyDeleteI assume the one-legged stance was meant as a means of wedging the original icon into the ground, however far back that might have been. Some of the Late-Paleolithic Venus figurines seem to have had pointed feet to wedge into the ground. And incidentally. artistic representation of satyr-like beings also goes back to the Late Paleolithic.
Which looks as if some of the CroMagnons might even have venerated Neanderthals as being the spiritual link between humans and the Animal world. Just possibly.