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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2022.277
Title
Seated Woman
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
Date
c. 500 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Archaic period, Late, to Early Classical
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/377048

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Painted terracotta
Technique
Mold-made
Dimensions
H. 14 × W. 7.8 × D. 8 cm (5 1/2 × 3 1/16 × 3 1/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin [1], Paris, (by 1890-1911), sold; to William A. Clark [2], New York, (by 1911-1925), bequest; to Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., (1926-2018) [3], transferred; to American University Museum, Washington, D.C., (2018-2021), sold; [through Sands of Time, Washington, D.C.]; to Harvard Art Museums, 2022.

1. Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin (1850-1916)
2. William Andrews Clark (1839-1925)
3. Following the closure of the Corcoran Gallery in 2014, its collections were physically transferred to the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.); the Corcoran Board of Trustees retained ownership until the collections were officially transferred to and accessioned into other museums’ collections (in 2018, in this case).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Kelekian Fund
Accession Year
2022
Object Number
2022.277
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Woman seated on a chair or throne, her head covered and her hands resting on her knees. Her long garment now appears white, with a red stripe running down the center; traces of folds indicated in dark paint can be seen on the proper right upper arm. There are remains of what appears to have been a necklace. Bright blue paint survives on the veil that covers the woman's head and falls over her shoulders, and black paint on the four rows of curls above her forehead. Long black strands of hair once framed the neck. Atop the curls sits a bright red diadem. The woman's eyebrows and irises were rendered in dark paint; a spot of bright red pigment can be seen at the mouth. The sides of the chair appear to have been white, while red ocher was applied over the white slip in the top and front sections. The back of the chair is still covered in accretions that were fully or partly removed from the rest of the figure.

The front of the figure was formed in a mold. The back is flat and the lower part of the figure hollowed out. The clay is orange-colored and quite soft, indicating that the statuette was made in Attica. Numerous terracottas of this type have been found in Athens, but they were exported throughout the Greek world, as well. The finds from the Athenian Acropolis suggest that the seated woman represented a goddess, likely Athena. The terracottas were also deposited in graves, however, and mortal women could be represented in the same pose and similar attire.
Commentary
For a discussion of comparable Athenian terracottas of seated women see:

Richard Nicholls, “Two Groups of Archaic Attic Terracottas,” in The Eye of Greece: Studies in the Art of Athens, ed. Donna Kurtz and Brian Sparkes, 89–122 (Cambridge 1982).

Barbara Vierneisel-Schlörb, Die figürlichen Terrakotten I: Spätmykenisch bis späthellenistisch, Kerameikos: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen, vol. 15 (Munich 1997) 23–35, pls. 15–23.

Friedrich Wilhelm Hamdorf, Die figürlichen Terrakotten der Staatlichen Antikensammlungen München, vol. 1 (Munich 2014), 82–85.

Publication History

  • Corcoran Gallery of Art, ed., Illustrated handbook of the W. A. Clark collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, 1928), p.100, no. 2519
  • Corcoran Gallery of Art, ed., Illustrated handbook of the W.A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, 1932), p. 106, no. 2519

Exhibition History

Related Digital Tours

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