Female protome

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Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 12725

Artist

Attic workshop

Category

Coroplastic

Period

Archaic Period

Date

520-510 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.08 m

Material

Clay

Location

First Floor Case 22, Νο 12

Description
Bibliography

Female protome that once surmounted a clay plaque. It was found during one of the Acropolis excavation campaigns. The figure has a tall stephane on the head and her hair forms dense locks that cover the forehead and ears. The surface preserves white slip, as well red and blue colour.

Terracotta female protomes are usually encountered as offerings in public sanctuaries dedicated primarily to female deities; as ritualistic objects in domestic shrines; as objects with apotropaic or decorative character in private households and as grave offerings in women's and children's burials. Their interpretation is uncertain since they are sometimes considered depictions of deities and other times of mere mortals.

Winter, F., Die antiken Terrakotten. Die Typen der figürlichen Terrakotten, III.1, Berlin/Stuttgart, 1903, σελ. 239, εικ. σχ. 1, αρ. κατ. 1
Casson, S., Brooke, D., Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum. Sculpture and Architectural Fragments, with a section upon the Terracottas, II, Cambridge, 1921, σελ. 408, αρ. κατ. 645
Σωτηριάδη-Sedwick, P., Αττικά πήλινα ειδώλια αρχαικής εποχής, Αθήνα, 1939, σελ. 43, αρ. κατ. 645
Nicholls, R., «Two Groups of Archaic Attic Terracottas», στο D.C. Kurtz, B. Sparkes (επιμ.), The Eye of Greece. Studies in the Art of Athens, Cambridge, 1982, σελ. 103, εικ. 24d, αρ. κατ. M1:1
Croissant, F., Les protomes feminines archaiques. Recherches sur les représentations du visage dans la plastique grecque de 550 à 480 av. J.-C, 1983, Paris, σελ. 264, εικ. 106, αρ. κατ. 160