Inventory number
Ακρ. 682
Artist
Attic workshop
Category
Sculpture
Period
Archaic Period
Date
Around 520 BC
Dimensions
Height: 1.82 m
Material
Marble from Paros
Location
Archaic Acropolis Gallery
The Kore was discovered in January of 1886 in the so-called "Korai Pit", northwest of the Erechtheion. She was reassembled from 15 fragments and restored.
She is one of the largest Korai of the Acropolis, carved in two separate marble pieces which were joined together. She stands on a plinth dressed in a chiton with long sleeves and a short himation on top, which passes obliquely under her left arm while secured on the right with relief buttons. According to spectrographical analysis, her garments were richly decorated with elaborate painted motifs such as rosettes, spirals, meanders, squares, crosses, dots and half-palmettes. The colours, red and pale blue have oxidized through time. On her feet the Kore wears sandals with thick soles and relief straps which bear a small hole for the adjustment of a metal ornament.
In her right hand, which is carved in a separate piece of marble, the Kore would have held her offering to Athena while with her left she would have pulled her chiton aside to facilitate her step. On her head she has a stephane whereas the bronze stem projecting from the top of her head is a meniskos. Her hair falls on her back in soft waves while four curls frame each side of her face and spill over her breasts. Separately carved curls were fixed in the drills visible on her chest. The traces of red colour preserved on her hair, constitute the undercoat over which their final hue was applied. Circular earrings ornate her ears and a relief bracelet, perhaps originally painted blue, decorates her left wrist. Her eyeballs were constructed out of glass, now lost.
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