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Gallery Text

Of Fragments and Forgeries

These figurines—with their curious faces (sometimes deemed “bird-like”), elaborate headdresses, and emphatic hips—are puzzling. Examples like numbers 1–4 [1998.15.16; 1992.256.12.1–3; 2022.242.1–3; 1969.177.86.1–2] have been found across today’s northern Syria and southeastern Türkiye (Turkey) in sanctuaries and graves dating from the second millennium BCE. Their applied breasts and incised pubic triangles mark them as female, encouraging modern interpretations about fertility and sexuality. Number 5 [1953.118], likely made on the island of Cyprus, shows similar features, attesting to ideas about female bodies shared between distant but connected communities of the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia during the Bronze Age.

Who exactly do they depict? Goddesses or worshippers? Both or neither? Any answers are complicated by wrinkles in their modern stories that raise a more urgent question: are these objects even ancient?

All six figurines moved through the art market without documented findspots, making it difficult to interpret them or even assess their authenticity. Number 6 [1999.252] may be a modern forgery. And while numbers 2–4 [1992.256.12.1–3; 2022.242.1–3; 1969.177.86.1–2] arrived at Harvard as single objects, each, in fact, comprises several pieces that are not original to each other. It is not clear whether the fragments are all ancient, all modern, or a combination of both. Displayed here disassembled, the objects offer a cautionary tale about the uncertainty that accompanies poorly documented paths on the art market.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1969.177.86.1
Title
Anthropomorphic female figure fragment: head and body
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
1800-1700 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Syria, Northern Syria
Period
Bronze Age, Middle
Culture
Syrian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/380407

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3440, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Middle Eastern Art in the Service of Kings
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Handmade
Dimensions
H. 7.1 × W. 3.6 × D. 1.6 cm (2 13/16 × 1 7/16 × 5/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Harry J. Denberg, New York, NY (by 1969), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1969.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Harry J. Denberg
Accession Year
1969
Object Number
1969.177.86.1
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
This object is a fragmentary, handmade terracotta figurine that depicts an anthropomorphic female figure, of which about three-quarters survives: the head, arms, torso, and the upper part of the legs are present.

The figure’s eyes are large and round, made of applied circular pellets indented with a pointed circular tool. A thin, vertical triangle projects as a beak-like nose. A round applied pellet is deeply indented on the forehead above the nose. No mouth is indicated. She wears a headdress above, extant as a lunate form. It is broken at the top; it, thus, is difficult to determine its original shape (circular, lunate, or flat on top, for example) and whether it was perforated. On either side of the face are a rounded projections with two round perforations, representing ears, part of the headdress, or hair.

A necklace decorates the base of her long neck; made of an applied strip of clay, it is decorated by a rouletted line. Stub arms project to either side from a violin-shaped body with wide, round hips. In the center of the torso, an applied circular pellet with a circular indentation forms a navel. The pubic area is outlined through incision with a horizontal line above and a curving line below; the lower line meets the vertical groove that delineates the legs. Preservation makes it difficult to discern how the pubic area was decorated (horizontal rouletting or other kind of incision?).

The figurine’s back is flat and undecorated except for two divots on the back of her hips and a vertical grove that delineates the legs, as on the front. This flatness is indicative of the forming process, in which the clay was pressed against a flat surface.

A break at the neck (likely occurring in modernity) has been mended.

Clay fabric: Munsell 7.5YR 7/3 pink to 6/4 light brown. Fine to small white specks, with frequent fine voids.
Commentary
This fragmentary figurine arrived at the museum attached to legs comprised of another terracotta figurine fragment (1969.177.86.2). However, these two fragments were not original to each other. The clay fabrics of the two fragments do not match each other: this is clear from X-radiography, which indicated that the materials were different (e.g., different density and inclusions), as well as from visible inspection of the terracotta. Additionally, once the fragments were separated and the modern filling materials were removed, it was apparent that the breaks did not match.

The relationship between the fragments is not clear. Several scenarios are possible: (1) the fragments are from two different ancient figurines (a “pastiche” of ancient fragments); (2) one fragment (such as the legs) was made in the 20th century to complete the other fragment (which in this scenario would, presumably, be ancient); (3) both fragments are modern.

These fragments are fairly typical examples of a category of figurines depicting a nude female figure with a “bird-like” face. These were made in the 2nd millennium BCE at sites across northern Syria (today’s eastern Turkey and northern Syria). Specifically, this figurine is in a form that comes from the region of the Orontes River. Such figurines are often interpreted as goddesses or divinities; the frequent depiction of breasts (not present here) and pubic triangles (present here) have encouraged interpretations of deities or domains of life pertaining to female sexuality and/or fertility.

It is common for figurines of this type to be broken across the legs. It is not currently clear if this frequent breakage pattern is the result of intentional, perhaps ritual, breakage or merely indicates a common susceptibility of the figurines to breakage during use or deposition.

Further information on this type of figurine may be found in the following standard reference work (where falls into the category of Orontes Type MAI 2):
Leila Badre. 1980. Les figurines anthropomorphes en terre cuite a l'age du bronze en Syrie, Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 103. Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/15/2023 - 01/01/2050

Related Works

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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