Female protome

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Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 12728

Artist

Attic workshop

Category

Coroplastic

Period

Archaic Period

Date

500-480 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.102 m

Material

Clay

Location

First Floor Case 28, Νο 2

Description
Bibliography

Female protome surmounted on a clay plaque. It was found during one of the Acropolis excavation campaigns. The plaque on which the head surmounts has a semi-circular shape. The face is oval and the eyes big with heavy lids. The edges of the lips are slightly upturned forming a smile. The figure wears a stephane and the hair forms locks that cover the forehead. White slip as well as traces of red paint are preserved on the surface.

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., «Sitzungsberichte der Archaolog. Gesellschaft zu Berlin. 1893 Juli», Archäologischer Anzeiger 1893, σελ. 144, εικ. 20
Winter, F., Die antiken Terrakotten. Die Typen der figürlichen Terrakotten, III.1, Berlin/Stuttgart, 1903, σελ. 239, εικ. σχ. 6, αρ. κατ. 6
Casson, S., Brooke, D., Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum. Sculpture and Architectural Fragments, with a section upon the Terracottas, II, Cambridge, 1921, σελ. 410, αρ. κατ. 636
Σωτηριάδη-Sedwick, P., Αττικά πήλινα ειδώλια αρχαικής εποχής, Αθήνα, 1939, σελ. 45, αρ. κατ. 636
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. 109, εικ. 26d, αρ. κατ. B1:1
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. 281, εικ. 113, αρ. κατ. 172