| Figurine of female mourning or praying |
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Inventory number |
00078 |
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Alternate Inventory number |
H-98 |
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Name of Object |
Figurine of female mourning or praying |
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Culture or Civilization |
Magna Grecia |
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Type of Object |
Sculpture - terracotta - in the round |
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Material Type |
Ceramic - terracotta |
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Dimensions |
H. 0.215 m. |
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Condition |
Hands chipped. White slip with red paint preserved over much of figurine. Heavy incrustation on surface.
Moldmade. Front mold. Slab back with rectanglar vent. Arms hand-modeled additions. White slip with red paint decoration. |
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Description |
This awkward, disproportionate figure faces frontally with her weight placed evenly on both legs. She raises her exaggeratedly large arms upward in a gesture of mourning or prayer. Her feet emerge from under the hem of her garment. Swollen, vertical volumes describe the drapery folds of what appears to be a chiton with a long, belted kolpos. Waved masses of hair frame the forehead, while other tresses fall along the sides of the neck. The oval-shaped face has worn features. This crudely fashioned figurine seems to fall late within the tradition of praying orantes figures that were applied as decoration to large polychrome vases placed in tombs at Canosa in southern Italy. Related figurines that were not used as plastic decoration for vases have also been found at Egnazia and Lipari. |
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Comments |
Fabric strong brown (7.5YR 5/6); small mica, quartz, felspar, and calcareous inclusions. |
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Comparanda |
For somewhat similar figurines from Canosa: Besques 1986, 144, pl. 156a, c, d, f; EAA 2 (1959) 317, figs. 462-63, s.v. Canosini, Vasi (O. Elia); Levi 1926, 55-56, pl. 2.1-3; Breitenstein 1941, 68-70, pls. 78, no. 652; 80, nos. 657-59; Higgins 1967, 127, pl. 60C; Oliver 1968, 16, 25, pl. 11.1-3; Uhlenbrock 1990, 160-61, nos. 47-48. From Egnazia: Levi 1926, 82, fig. 69, no. 341. From Lipari: Bernabò Brea and Cavalier 1965, 317-18, pl. 203.1-2.
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Date Discussion |
third century B.C. or later. |
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Beginning Date |
-299 |
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End Date |
-200 |
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Provenience |
Magna Graecia, possibly Canosa. |
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Source |
E. Charles |
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Bibliography |
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Fototeca negative number |
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AAR negative number |
M68.XXXII.17 |
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Location |
5B SCR draw E1 |
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Authors |
Rebecca Ammerman
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