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Gallery Text

Of Fragments and Forgeries

These figurines—with their curious faces (sometimes deemed “bird-like”), elaborate headdresses, and emphatic hips—are puzzling. Examples like numbers 1–4 [1998.15.16; 1992.256.12.1–3; 2022.242.1–3; 1969.177.86.1–2] have been found across today’s northern Syria and southeastern Türkiye (Turkey) in sanctuaries and graves dating from the second millennium BCE. Their applied breasts and incised pubic triangles mark them as female, encouraging modern interpretations about fertility and sexuality. Number 5 [1953.118], likely made on the island of Cyprus, shows similar features, attesting to ideas about female bodies shared between distant but connected communities of the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia during the Bronze Age.

Who exactly do they depict? Goddesses or worshippers? Both or neither? Any answers are complicated by wrinkles in their modern stories that raise a more urgent question: are these objects even ancient?

All six figurines moved through the art market without documented findspots, making it difficult to interpret them or even assess their authenticity. Number 6 [1999.252] may be a modern forgery. And while numbers 2–4 [1992.256.12.1–3; 2022.242.1–3; 1969.177.86.1–2] arrived at Harvard as single objects, each, in fact, comprises several pieces that are not original to each other. It is not clear whether the fragments are all ancient, all modern, or a combination of both. Displayed here disassembled, the objects offer a cautionary tale about the uncertainty that accompanies poorly documented paths on the art market.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2022.242.1
Title
Anthropomorphic female figurine fragment: head
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
1900-1800 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Syria, Northern Syria
Period
Bronze Age, Middle
Culture
Syrian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/380410

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3440, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Middle Eastern Art in the Service of Kings
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Handmade
Dimensions
H. 4.3 × W. 2.8 × d. 2.2 cm (1 11/16 × 1 1/8 × 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Asfar Bros., St. George Hotel, Beirut, Lebanon (by 1964)], purchase; by Nanette B Kelekian, New York (1964-2021), bequest; to the Harvard Art Museums.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Nanette B. Kelekian
Accession Year
2022
Object Number
2022.242.1
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This head is a fragment of a handmade terracotta figurine. Above the face is a flat-ish rectangular headdress or coiffure. It is perforated with circular holes at left and right; the hole on the proper right is higher than that of the proper left. On the upper proper left portion of the headdress or coiffure, the surface is shorn off. A long tab runs from the front of the headdress (between the holes) along the top of the nose; it bears an indention made with a pointed, circular tool in the front where it joins the nose. The nose is narrow and tall with a rectangular profile. It gives the nose a “beak-like” appearance, the basis of the common “bird-like” descriptor given to the face of figurines like this. On either side of the nose, large round eyes are formed of applied circular pellets, which are also indented at center with a pointed circular tool. The face is framed with a small, semicircular projecting flange, each perforated. These are either part of the same headdress or coiffure or represent ears. No mouth is indicated. Below the face, the neck (oval-shaped in section) is broken (or cut) off cleanly. The back of the head is flat.
Clay fabric: Munsell 7.5YR 7/3 pink. Occasional medium to large angular (irregular) white, grey, and black grits and rare medium round voids.
Commentary
This figurine fragment arrived at the museum attached to two other fragments. However, the fragments are not original to each other. The terracotta (clay) fabric of the body (2022.242.2) differs from that of the head (2022.242.1) and legs (2022.242.3): this is clear from X-radiography, which indicated that the materials were different (e.g., different density and inclusions). X-radiography did not clarify the relationship between the clay of the head and legs; visual inspection of the terracotta suggests that they, too, are different from each other.
Several scenarios are possible: (1) the fragments are from two or three different ancient figurines (a “pastiche” of ancient fragments); (2) one or two fragments (such as the legs) were made in the 20th century to complete the other fragment(s), which, in this scenario, would likely be authentically ancient, creating a mixed modern and ancient “pastiche”; (3) all fragments are modern.
When the pastiche figurine was disassembled and old fills were removed, it became clear that the breaks do not align tightly. However, the edges of the breaks at the neck and legs all seem to be clean, modern cuts; it is possible that broken edges were cleaned up in order to facilitate easier mending when it was assembled.
These figurine fragments are fairly typical examples of a category of figurines depicting a nude female figure with a “bird-like” face. These were made in the 2nd millennium BCE at sites across northern Syria (today’s eastern Turkey and northern Syria). Specifically, this figurine is in a form that comes from the region of the Orontes River. Such figurines are often interpreted as goddesses or divinities; the frequent depiction of breasts (not present here) and pubic triangles (present here) have encouraged interpretations of deities or domains of life pertaining to female sexuality and/or fertility. It is common for figurines of this type to be broken across the legs. It is not currently clear if this frequent breakage pattern is the result of intentional, perhaps ritual, breakage or merely indicates a common susceptibility of the figurines to breakage during use or deposition.
Further information on this type of figurine may be found in the following standard reference work (where falls into the category of Orontes Type MAI 2): Leila Badre. 1980. Les figurines anthropomorphes en terre cuite a l'age du bronze en Syrie, Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 103. Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/15/2023 - 01/01/2050

Related Works

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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