1932.56.27: Draped Female Figure

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The woman stands with her right arm on her hip and her left arm bent at the elbow, hand outstretched and holding a spherical object, perhaps a fruit. Her weight is on her left leg, while her right leg is bent at the knee. A section of her hair is pulled into a knot above her brow, while the rest is rolled along the sides and back of her head. The facial features are indistinct, while the folds of the garments are sharp. She wears a mantle over a chiton, and a fastener for the separate portions of the garment is rendered on the right shoulder. The end of the mantle drapes around her left elbow, with the excess cloth hanging along her side. The front of the right foot emerges from the drapery at the bottom.

The alloy composition, with 31% zinc, and lack of corrosion consistent with long-term burial suggest that this piece has a modern origin, and the relatively large number of exact copies of the piece—at least five and up to eleven known copies—confirms that it is not an antiquity (1). The earliest examples appear in the mid to late 1860s (2). The authenticity of some of the statuettes, along with the Harvard piece, has been questioned, and none of the pieces with good color photography has surface corrosion consistent with ancient copper alloys (3).

NOTES:

1. For six examples of this statuette known in 1940, see H. C. van Gulik, Catalogue of the Bronzes in the Allard Pierson Museum, Archaeologisch-historische bijdragen (Allard Pierson Stichting) 7 (Amsterdam, 1940) 101-102, no. 153, pl. 36. The copies were in the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam (inv. no. 711); the Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna (inv. no. ROM 1110, Palagi collection); a collection in Dresden; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Salting collection 5); the Antikesammlung, Berlin (Fr. 2470, currently missing); and on the Paris art market, published in S. Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine 5.2 (Paris, 1924) 376, no. 5. It is not certain whether the Harvard example is one of these six, but additional examples have appeared on the art market in recent decades; see Christie’s (London), July 6, 1994, lot 434; Antiquities including Property from the Collection of Sir Daniel Donohue, Bonhams (London), April 13, 2011, lot 76; Antiquities, Bonhams (London), May 8, 2013, lot 162 (back right); and Ancient & Oriental, affiliated with Ancient Art, London, http://antiquities.co.uk/item/400016028 (accessed 14 August 2015). These more recent sales may include one or more of the examples known to van Gulik. An unpublished example is in the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum, inv. no. FIC.07.176.

2. For the Berlin example, see E. H. Toelken, Leitfaden für die Sammlung antiker Metall-Arbeiten: Königliche Museen Berlin (1850) 15, no. 24. The Bologna piece was given to the city in 1860; see van Gulik 1940 (supra 1) 102.

3. Doubts were raised due to the number of copies by van Gulik 1940 (supra 1); and by N. Franken, Bilddatenbank: Antike Bronzen in Berlin, http://ww2.smb.museum/antikebronzenberlin, inv. no. Fr. 2470 (accessed 14 August 2015). J. Riederer questioned the antiquity of the Harvard piece due to the high zinc content of its alloy.

Lisa M. Anderson