Artworks

Greek terracotta female votive figure with almost all the polychrome decoration remaining. Intact.

'Industrious workshops in Boeotia produced thousands of mold-made terracotta statuettes for religious, decorative, and funerary use for several centuries. This engaging statuette represents a woman whose down-turned eyes and pursed lips lend her a dejected air. Her hair is drawn up on the crown of her head and wrapped in a length of patterned cloth. She is clothed in a full-length, sleeveless dress and adorned with a necklace with seven pendants and a pair of bracelets on each arm. Remarkable for the preservation of its bold red, vivid yellow, and black coloration, this figurine reminds viewers that many ancient sculptures were once brightly painted.' - from the AIC website

Provenance

Imre & Nicholas T Molnar; acquired at Sotheby's, London, Western Asiatic, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities
4th May 1970, lot 87
Art Institute of Chicago, USA; acquired from Charles Ede in 2014, reference number 2014.969

Exhibitions

Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, April 5, 2017 - present

Literature

Terracottas with the added decoration in this very fresh condition are rare. For the type compare N. Breitenstein Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Danish National Museum (Copenhagen 1941) pl.29/262.