Female protome with the face chipped off. It was found during one of the
Acropolis
excavation campaigns. The woman smiles and has a low stephane on her head. Locks of hair rendered in relief frame the forehead. White slip and red paint are retained on the surface.
Terracotta female protomes are usually encountered as dedications in public sanctuaries offered 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. 237, εικ. σχ. 4, αρ.κατ. 4 Casson, S., Brooke, D., Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum. Sculpture and Architectural Fragments, with a section upon the Terracottas, II, Cambridge, 1921, σελ. 412, αρ.κατ. 628 Σωτηριάδη-Sedwick, P., Αττικά πήλινα ειδώλια αρχαικής εποχής, Αθήνα, 1939, σελ. 41, 42, αρ.κατ. 628 Croissant, F., «Observations sur le style de la tête Wix de Copenhague», στο M. Προύνη-Θιλίπ, A. Καλογεροπούλου (επιμ.), Στήλη. ΤΟΜΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΜΝΗΜΗΝ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΛΟΥ Κοντολέοντος, Αθήνα, 1980, σελ. 48-50, πίν. 7a-b 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. 105 υποσημ. 3, 269, εικ. 107, 108, αρ.κατ. 161