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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1995.1141
Title
Female Votive
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Goddess
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
5th-3rd century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Umbria
Period
Archaic period to Hellenistic
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304400

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
7.7 cm (3 1/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is brown and green. The statuette is a solid lost-wax cast and appears to have been modeled in the wax. There appear to be the remnants of gilding on the proper left and right near the feet below the corrosion products.


Tony Sigel (submitted 1999)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Nelson Goodman, Weston, MA, gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1995.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Nelson Goodman
Accession Year
1995
Object Number
1995.1141
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This simple schematic female figure wears a conical hairstyle or pointed cap and a long garment (1). The face is long and thin, with a raised vertical line on the center of the face indicating a nose, although no other facial features are clear. The right arm is held away from the side, perhaps in a gesture of prayer or offering, while the left arm holds and pulls the garment out from the hip. The figure is almost flat, with no modeling of the limbs. The torso narrows at the waist, expands at the hips, and tapers toward the feet, which are indicated by a slight outward turn of the metal at the bottom. The back is featureless—the left elbow protrudes behind the body of the figure.

NOTES:

1. Compare G. Colonna, Bronzi votivi umbro-sabellici a figura umana 1: Periodo “arcaico” (Florence, 1970) nos. 215-16, pl. 65, both at the Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, inv. nos. 24509-10, in Colonna’s group “Vöcklabruck” and called offerants. See also C. Cagianelli, Bronzi a figura umana, Monumenti Musei e Gallerie Pontificie Museo Gregoriano Etrusco Cataloghi 5 (Vatican City, 1999) 261-63, nos. 115-16; M. Bolla and G. P. Tabone, Bronzistica figurata preromana e romana del Civico Museo Archeologico “Giovio” di Como (Como, 1996) 39-42, nos. A 14-17; and A. Caravale, Museo Claudio Faina di Orvieto: Bronzetti votivi (Milan, 2003) 56-58, nos. 24-29.

Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

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