Lot 15D
Western Greek, Magna Graecia, ca. early 5th century BCE. An elegant terracotta protome depicting the head and torso of a goddess with well-modeled facial features wearing a headdress. A protome is a type of bust made by pressing a thin layer of terracotta into a single mold. These were first made in Rhodes, but from the early fifth century BCE onwards they spread throughout Greece. Originally, this piece would have been painted (to see an example of a painted protome, see the terracotta protome of Dionysos at the British Museum). A lovely example that speaks to the importance of women as religious figures in Magna Graecia. Translucent acrylic stand. Size: 5.25" W x 7.125" H (13.3 cm x 18.1 cm)
Greek influenced southern Italy during this time was a place of goddess worship, with Demeter/Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, having a very popular cult. She is the oldest god known from the Roman pantheon, with an inscription found at Falerii dating to 600 BCE. However, many other women both real and mythical played a role in Magna Graecia religion, including priestesses of the Eleusinian mystery cult, a cult of Isis, a cult of Cybele mentioned in the Aeneid, and the women who every year took part in the festival of the Thesmophoria, which was for women only by law and renewed the harvest.
Provenance: private Swiss collection
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#124163
- Condition: Losses to lower end. Expected surface wear with pigment losses as shown, though tiny traces of white, blue, and russet pigment remain.
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