Description:
A large statuette of a female figure with a flat, thin body, depicted in a sitting position. She has highly stylised arms, no more than small stumps, and a disproportionately long neck, along which two long thick strands of hair fall onto the shoulders, a third one falling onto the nape of her neck and even onto the backrest of her chair. Her head is characteristic for this type of statuette, mainly consisting of a large nose. The eyes have been indicated, and the mouth and chin are absent; the nose was possibly considered as one of the basic elements of the human face. Such faces are commonly called mouse faces or bird faces (Szabó, p. 60; Van Rooijen, p. 45).
On top of her head she wears a flaring polos with a projecting volute or spiral finial. The polos is a cylindrical hat which can vary in shape, size, and decoration. The origin of the headgear would have been a characteristic part of the dress of the eastern fertility goddesses, such as Astarte and Kybele. It became a common feature of dress in the 7th century B.C. over a vast area. But although common, the background of the polos is still debated scientifically. For an overview see Van Rooijen, p. 58-63, who discusses the relation to the kalathos (basket) and the modius (grain measure), and also lists various and sometimes contradicting theories concerning the polos: functional or ceremonial, indicating votive purposes, reserved for deities or also worn by worshippers, a symbol of transition, connected with the underworld, an indication of marital status or a bridal crown, used in a transition ritual from virgin to married woman etc. Van Rooijen also points out that, due to this uncertainty, the presence of a polos does not automatically identify the figure as a goddess.
The object has lots of preserved painted geometric details, including the decoration of her embroidered dress; also her hair and a necklace and indicated.
These figures are in many ways similar to the standing so-called "pappades"-statuettes: a flat, plank-like body, stumpy arms, a bird face and a polos with spiral finial. Such figures could not always stand and needed to be placed against a support. To solve this problem, sometimes a larger base or stand was created, but in other cases the artist opted for a chair-shaped base. To achieve this, the thin body of "pappades" statuettes could be easily bent at the waist and usually also at the knees, to shape them into a seated posture. In order to keep their balance, a stand or "legs of a chair" were placed at the rear of the figurine to support it (Van Rooijen, p. 38-39). In frontal view it is not possible to see that the body is made out of a thin plank of clay, which is then bent, and the front part of the chair usually is not visible because it is covered by the figurine’s garment.
Different types of seating furniture have been depicted. Sometimes the figure is sitting on a simple stool or a bench, in other cases the coroplasts opted for more elaborate versions, as if to express the importance of the figure seated upon it and at the same time physically enlarging the object by the addition of the chair; sometimes the backrest of the chair is shown, sometimes benches curve up at the sides, creating a hollow seat. A cushion could also be added. In some cases the artist created a real throne, with an elaborately and detailed rendering, clearly defined chair legs and often animal elements (for an overview see Van Rooijen, p. 88-93).
For comparable statuettes see for example Hamdorf, p. 63, no. 72; Besques, no. 4; Higgins p. 205-206, no. 767; pl. 101.
Bibliography:
Simone Besques, Figurines et reliefs grecs en terre cuite. Musée du Louvre, Département des antiquités grecques, étrusques et romaines (Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1994);
Friedrich Wilhelm Hamdorf - Vinzenz Brinkmann - Christa Koppermann, Hauch des Prometheus. Meisterwerke in Ton (München, Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, 1996);
Reynold Alleyne Higgins, Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I: Greek, 730-330 B.C. (London, British Museum, 1954; reprint 1969-1970);
Gerrie K. van Rooijen, Goddesses of Akragas. A Study of Terracotta Votive Figurines from Sicily (Leiden, Sidestone Press, 2021);
Miklós Szabó, Archaic Terracottas of Boeotia (Roma, «L'Erma» di Bretschneider, 1994);
Jaimee P. Uhlenbrock, "Research Perspectives in Greek Coroplastic Studies. The Demeter Paradigm and the Goddess Bias", Les Carnets de l’Association for Coroplastic Studies, volume 14 (2016);
Jaimee P. Uhlenbrock, "Terracotta Types of Enthroned Females from the Extramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone at Cyrene" in Mario Luni (ed.), Cirene e la Cirenaica nell’Antichita’ (Cirene "Atene d'Africa" III) (Monografie di Archeologia Libica, 30) (Roma, «L'Erma» di Bretschneider, 2010), p. 85-100.
Dating:
Greece, Boeotia, first half of the 6th century B.C.
Size:
Height circa 18.5 cm.
Provenance:
French private collection O.M., Pessac; with Rossini Paris, 17 November 2016; thereafter with Galerie Tarantino, Paris; comes with a (French) report from the conservator and restorer who cleaned the object (Atelier Bresson), stating that traces of glue were found on the object of a kind used in the first half of the twentieth century, up until approcimately 1950.
Condition:
In very good condition, with a few old breaks which have been repaired but left visible, mainly 2 breaks in the proper left rear leg of the chair and minor damage to the polos with its volute; on the back and underneath traces of old labels.
Price:
€ 7,000
Stock number:
C1337