Harvard Art Museums > 1920.44.141: Fragment of a Head of a Female Figure Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Fragment of a Head of a Female Figure , 1920.44.141,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 25, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/292650. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1920.44.141 Title Fragment of a Head of a Female Figure Classification Sculpture Work Type head, sculpture Date 150 BCE-50 BCE Period Hellenistic period Culture Greek Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/292650 Physical Descriptions Medium Marble from Greek mainland Dimensions H. 6.7 cm (2 5/8 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Miss Elizabeth Gaskell Norton, Boston, MA and Miss Margaret Norton, Cambridge, MA (by 1920), gift; to the Fogg Museum, 1920. Note: The Misses Norton were daughters of Charles Elliot Norton (1827-1908). Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Misses Norton Accession Year 1920 Object Number 1920.44.141 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 199069 Fragment of a Head of a Female Figure The upper left side of the face is broken away. The nose and chin are damaged. The head is a pale reflection of the major cult images of Pheidian Athens of the Hera or Demeter type surviving in overlifesized copies. It probably came from a small draped statue. The Demeter of the Vatican offers an indication of the type of colossal Roman copy that suggests the source for a small Hellenistic head of the type at the Harvard University Art Museums (Winter, 1900, pl. 282, no. 8). Small statues or large statuettes in the best Greek traditions of 440-340 B.C. and representing Demeter or Persephone in the full, heavy garments of major cult images were popular in Attica, and, especially, the Greek islands. The Demeter or Persephone von Matsch, once in Vienna and now in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, represents the latest end of the spectrum (Vermeule, C., 1981, p. 86, no. 56). At the beginning of the fourth century B.C. we have the Demeter in the Museo Archeologico, Venice, which has the mantle drawn up over the head and a heavy peplos below (Fuchs, 1969, pp. 212-213, fig. 228). It seems safe to say that when these small statues in the sartorial taste of Kephisodotos's Eirene with Plutos are veiled, they represent the elder agricultural goddess. When they are unveiled, as here and the small statue from the von Matsch collection, they show Demeter's daughter Persephone. Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer Publication History Cornelius C. Vermeule III and Amy Brauer, Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 86, no. 69 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be 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
