Female protome

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Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 12609

Artist

Attic workshop

Category

Coroplastic

Period

Archaic Period

Date

550-540 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.11 m

Material

Clay

Location

First Floor Case 22, Νο 4

Description
Bibliography

Female protome that surmounts a clay plaque. It was found during one of the

Acropolis

excavation campaigns. The figure wears a rayed stephane adorned with thin bands whereas her hair frames the forehead. White slip, as well as red paint are preserved 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. 238, 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. 399, αρ.κατ. 643
Σωτηριάδη-Sedwick, P., Αττικά πήλινα ειδώλια αρχαικής εποχής, Αθήνα, 1939, σελ. 39-40, αρ.κατ. 643
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. 243, εικ. 97, 99, αρ.κατ. 155