Large Boeotian Terracotta Statuette of a Woman

Culture: Greek/Boeotian

Period: Late 5th century B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 41 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 2296

Provenance: French private collection Julien Bessonneau (1842-1916). Between 1970 and 1980 acquired by Yvette and Jacques Deschamps, France. Since then in a family estate. Accompanied by a French antiquities passport.

Condition: The head reattached, otherwise very beautifully preserved.

Description: Large terracotta statuette formed from a mould of a standing woman with an elaborate curly hairstyle in red color. She wears a long peplos and stands with her weight on her left leg. The right one is slightly bent. In her right hand, bent in front of her chest, holding possibly a fruit, the left one hanging down sideways and pulling the peplos slightly sideways. Noticeable is the large headdress above the magnificent hairstyle. This is to be interpreted as a calathus, the Greek women’s basket in form of a top hat. The iconography of the straight and upright standing woman in a peplos reminds of the caryatids and stands in the succession of the female sculpture of the 5th century B.C. The meaning of these Boeotian sculptures is to be seen in connection with the wedding cult surrounding Demeter Thesmophoria, who was traditionally worshipped in Boeotia. Possibly the statue represents a maiden or an attendant of a wedding ceremony. See the statuette in the British Museum with the registration number 1926,1115.2, as well as the female figure in the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens with the collection number ΚΠ0021. Beautiful white and red color remains. Mounted on an old wood base.