Greek terracotta votive figurine
Greek mould-made terracotta seated figure of a veiled woman or goddess, possibly Demeter (Ceres), protector of the fertility of the earth and both farming and wheat. She sits on a quadrilateral stool, holding a child on her left arm, possibly her daughter Kore (Persephone). Demeter’s facial features are still visible but the body and dress are in poor condition. The feet are visible on a lower base. This type of figurine, found mainly in tombs or in the vicinity of temples, symbolises motherhood and would have been offered in exchange for the protection of children and the family line.
Object number: 127.011.
Date: ca. 5th century BC.
Parallels: London, British Museum GR 1863,0728.273, 1863,0728.274, 1863,0728.266, 1863,0728.268, 1863,0728.269, compare with 1864,1007.14, 2010,5009.17, 2010,5009.19; compare with Paris, Louvre MNB 1718; compare with New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 89.2.2131, 1972.118.122, 1972.118.123.
References: Burn, L., Higgins, R., Walters, H. B., and Bailey, D. M., Catalogue of Terracottas in the British Museum Terracotta, BMP, London, 1903-2001; Higgins, R., 'Terracottas', 1954, nos. 1380-1400; Nicholson, F., Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Pottery and Small Terracottas: A Brief Guide for the Small Collector, Shelley Stone, 1965; Higgins, R., Greek Terracottas; London: Methuen, 1967; Tzavella-Evjen, C., Greek and Roman Vases and Statuettes from the University of Colorado Collection, Athens: Archaiologikon Deltion, 1973, pp. 192-197. Langin-Hooper, S. M., Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia: Miniaturization and Cultural Hybridity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Photo by Steve Morton