Sunday, March 19, 2017

Greek Statuettes in Terracotta

Aphrodite kneeling in a seashell
300-275 BC
Greek terracotta statuette
Louvre, Paris

"Aphrodite was also worshiped by prostitutes. Epithets such as Hetaira ('courtesan') and Porne ('prostitute') show her as protectress of this profession, whose essential stock-in-trade was seduction. Corinth was particularly well known for the beauty and luxurious living of its prostitutes, who certainly revered the local Aphrodite. All the same it is unlikely that her sanctuary on Acrocorinth was the location of an institutionalized form of what is usually called 'sacred prostitution'. The only source for such a remarkable practice in a Greek context, Strabo, places it in a vague past time, and is surely influenced by the eastern practices with which he was familiar. Herodotus also mentions a similar practice in several parts of the Mediterranean area, and his silence in regard to Corinth should invite caution."

 André Motte, writing in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd edition, edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (Oxford, 1996)

Aphrodite leaning on a pillar
3rd century BC
Greek terracotta statuette
Louvre, Paris

Statuette of Aphrodite
300-200 BC
Greek terracotta from South Italy
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Warrior falling from galloping horse
4th-3rd century BC
Greek terracotta statuette
Louvre, Paris

Statuette of Apollo
200-100 BC
Greek terracotta from South Italy
Getty Museum, Los Angeles 

Woman playing knucklebones
4th century BC
Greek terracotta statuette
Louvre, Paris

Woman playing knucklebones
4th century BC
Greek terracotta statuette
Louvre, Paris

Actor wearing ass's head
and playing the cithara
1st century BC
Greek terracotta statuette
Louvre, Paris

Actor dressed as a woman
325-225 BC
Greek terracotta statuette
Louvre, Paris


Statuette of a mime
225-275 BC
Greek terracotta from South Italy
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Statuette of Eros
200-100 BC
Greek terracotta from South Italy
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Statuette of a woman dancing
400-200 BC
Greek terracotta from South Italy
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Statuette of a woman mourning
300-250 BC
Greek terracotta from South Italy
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Statuettes of women mourning
325 BC
Greek terracotta from South Italy
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Sculptural group
 Seated poet and Sirens
350-300 BC
Greek terracotta from South Italy
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

"A seated man is flanked by sirens, creatures part bird and part woman, in this nearly life-size terracotta group. In Greek mythology, the singing of the sirens lured sailors to their deaths; thus the creatures have general funerary connotations. The seated man is also a singer, as shown by his open mouth and the pick (plektron) with which he plays his now-missing lyre, once cradled in his left arm. His precise identity, however, is uncertain. He might be Orpheus, who was famous for his singing and who traveled to the land of the dead and was able to return. But in art of this period, Orpheus is usually shown wearing a specific Eastern costume not seen here. Therefore, this man may just be an ordinary mortal, perhaps the deceased, in the guise of a poet or singer."

 from curator's notes at the Getty Museum