Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This simple schematic female figure wears a conical hairstyle or pointed cap and a long garment (1). The face is long and thin, with a raised vertical line on the center of the face indicating a nose, although no other facial features are clear. The right arm is held away from the side, perhaps in a gesture of prayer or offering, while the left arm holds and pulls the garment out from the hip. The figure is almost flat, with no modeling of the limbs. The torso narrows at the waist, expands at the hips, and tapers toward the feet, which are indicated by a slight outward turn of the metal at the bottom. The back is featureless—the left elbow protrudes behind the body of the figure.
NOTES:
1. Compare G. Colonna, Bronzi votivi umbro-sabellici a figura umana 1: Periodo “arcaico” (Florence, 1970) nos. 215-16, pl. 65, both at the Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, inv. nos. 24509-10, in Colonna’s group “Vöcklabruck” and called offerants. See also C. Cagianelli, Bronzi a figura umana, Monumenti Musei e Gallerie Pontificie Museo Gregoriano Etrusco Cataloghi 5 (Vatican City, 1999) 261-63, nos. 115-16; M. Bolla and G. P. Tabone, Bronzistica figurata preromana e romana del Civico Museo Archeologico “Giovio” di Como (Como, 1996) 39-42, nos. A 14-17; and A. Caravale, Museo Claudio Faina di Orvieto: Bronzetti votivi (Milan, 2003) 56-58, nos. 24-29.
Lisa M. Anderson
