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A female figure with distorted limbs

A woman with long skinny limbs wears a long dress indicated by wavy lines on her torso and legs. Her feet are pointed. Her arms wave away from her body and her left arm is broken off at her elbow. Her torso is elongated and she has small high breasts, a thick neck and small head. Her face is simple, with circular eyes and a barely visible nose and mouth. She wears a headband, and hair or a headdress rise over the headband. The surface is brown and green, and looks worn down or polished.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1962.64
Title
Elongated Woman Wearing a Diadem
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
Date
5th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Umbria
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/311125

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3700, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Roman Art
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
24.5 x 7 x 2 cm (9 5/8 x 2 3/4 x 13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 82.15; Sn, 9.51; Pb, 7.49; Zn, 0.016; Fe, 0.28; Ni, 0.05; Ag, 0.06; Sb, 0.1; As, 0.26; Bi, 0.048; Co, 0.021; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The figure is a solid cast, and some porosity and casting flaws are still visible. It is missing its proper left hand. The loss of patina behind the knees indicates the deformation of metal. Grooves in the surface were crudely cleaned with a sharp blade. The patina is dark green and brown.


Carol Snow and Nina Vinogradskaya (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Marian H. Phinney, Cambridge, MA, (by 1962), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1962.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Marian H. Phinney
Accession Year
1962
Object Number
1962.64
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
Advancing with her left leg, this elongated woman (kore) appears to stride forward unsteadily in her upturned shoes. This impression is reinforced by the placement of her arms: the right is bowed out to the side, as if for balance, while the left is swung forward, its hand missing. Dressed in a long, diaphanous tunic, the figure’s breasts, rendered as two knobs of bronze set high upon her chest, are visible beneath her costume. A pattern of long vertical waves creates the impression sheer fabric. The bottom of her tunic bears a leaf-like motif. The woman’s hair is combed back from her face and tucked into a cap of some type, perhaps a snood, and she wears a crown with a lightly incised pattern, possibly depicting rays. Identified as “female figures of worshippers or perhaps temple attendants,” late Archaic korai figures of this type are sometimes shown holding offerings or making gestures of prayer (1). Richardson places this piece within her group of provincial korai, which “imitate the costumes and gestures of the Ionian or Severe korai of the late Archaic period, but in an exaggerated way” (2).

NOTES:

1. E. Richardson, Etruscan Votive Bronzes: Geometric, Orientalizing, Archaic (Mainz, 1983) 249.

2. Ibid., 308. For the decoration of the dress, compare also a statuette of Minerva in the Villa Giulia in G. Colonna, Bronzi votivi umbro-sabellici a figura umana 1: Periodo “arcaico” (Florence, 1970) 37-38, no. 43, pl. 13.


Aimée F. Scorziello

Publication History

  • Emeline H. Richardson, Etruscan Votive Bronzes: Geometric, Orientalizing, Archaic, Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz, 1983), p. 331, Archaic Kore Series C, Group 6C, no. 6, figs. 797-98, pl. 238.
  • Marion True, Suzannah F. Doeringer, and John J. Herrmann Jr., The Gods Delight: The Human Figure in Classical Bronze, exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art/Indiana University Press (Cleveland, OH, 1989), p. 181, fig. 13.

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3700 Roman, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Google Art Project

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