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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.48
Title
Sacrificing Woman on a Base
Other Titles
Former Title: Figurine of a Female Deity or Worshipper
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
3rd-2nd Century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Hellenistic period
Culture
Etruscan
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/178171

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
with base: 5.1 cm (2 in.)
above base: 3.9 cm (1 9/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina of both statuettes (2012.1.47 and 2012.1.48) is green with brown burial accretions. 2012.1.47 also has areas of blue. The attachment to the base of 2012.1.48 appears intact and ancient. That of 2012.1.47 shows evidence of a black adhesive and a dark brown applied paint.

The figures’ general shapes and draperies could have been made by pressing their wax models into an open mold. They are flat and undecorated on the back. The more three-dimensional articulation of the arms could have then been formed directly in the wax. The lead base of 2012.1.48 is largely mineralized. It would have served to hold the figure on a larger, perhaps stone, base. The bright green copper alloy base of 2012.1.47 shows some of the circular forms of a knucklebone, although with irregularities. It appears to be a modern combination with the figure.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
The Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (before 1970-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.1.48
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This stylized, flat female figurine, possibly of a priestess, is mounted in an irregular fragment of lead (1). She stands frontally with hands outstretched, and there are very few details of drapery or anatomy. The facial features shown—eyes, nose, and mouth—are large and irregular. There is no indication of hair, but a peaked head covering (a hat or possibly the edge of a mantle) is apparent. The figure is fully covered in drapery (a variation of tunic and mantle) with both feet visible. The right hand of the figurine is extended and probably would have held a vessel for pouring libations; the left hand is either covered with drapery or worn smooth. As similar figurines show, it probably would have held another vessel close to the body. The back is featureless except for some diagonal lines to indicate drapery.

Figurines such as this were known to have been mounted, sometimes in groups, in bases. The irregular lead fragment at the bottom of this figurine would have attached the figurine to its base (2).

NOTES:

1. Compare M. Bentz, Etruskische Votivbronzen des Hellenismus (Florence, 1992) 102-105, type 22, pl. 30; F. Jurgeit, Die etruskischen und italischen Bronzen sowie Gegenstände aus Eisen, Blei, und Leder im Badischen Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Terra Italia 5 (Pisa, 1999) 84-85, nos. 114-15, pl. 37; A. Naso, I bronzi etruschi e italici del Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Altertümer 33 (Mainz, 2003) 35-36, nos. 43-45, pl. 20; and A. Caravale, Museo Claudio Faina di Orvieto: Vasellame (Milan, 2006) 93-104, nos. 98-112.

2. For a square base that held eight figurines, three of which are still in situ, see S. Stopponi, “Campo della Fiera at Orvieto: new discoveries,” in The Archaeology of Sanctuaries and Ritual in Etruria, N. T. de Grummond and I. Edlund-Berry, eds., JRA Suppl. 81 (Portsmouth, RI, 2011) 16-35, esp. 33-34, fig. 40. For figures with similarly irregular lead attachments at their feet, see Bentz 1992 (supra 1) 17-19, fig.13, pl.4.

Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • John Crawford, Sidney Goldstein, George M. A. Hanfmann, John Kroll, Judith Lerner, Miranda Marvin, Charlotte Moore, and Duane Roller, Objects of Ancient Daily Life. A Catalogue of the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection Belonging to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, ed. Jane Waldbaum, Department of the Classics (unpublished manuscript, 1970), M158, p. 200 [J. S. Crawford]
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), p. 50

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu