LOT 0044

Greek Terracotta Female Protome

EARLY 5TH CENTURY B.C.

7 3/4 in. (606 grams, 19.5 cm).

Mould-made female protome with oval face, graceful nose and typical "archaic" smile; forehead framed by snail-shell curls descending to shoulder-height; with a low polos with a central perforation and large disc earrings.

Ex Herbert A. Cahn, Kunst der Antike, Basel, 1997.
with Paul and Vreny Vosseler-Studer, Riehen.

Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate no.S00057826.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12474-228714.

Cahn, H. A., Griechische und Etruskische Kunstwerke archaischer Zeit, 600 - 480 v. Chr. : Katalog 9 Januar 1998. Basel Cat.9, (Basel 1998) no.19.

Cf. for various similar examples in Capuano, A., 'Il culto di Demetra nella Lucania Antica' in Basilicata Regione Notizie, 2017, pp.128-151.

The presence of cults in Magna Graecia, although they fell within a well-established pantheon, in which the deity representing the Great Mother or Mother Earth, protector of fertility, natural and human fecundity, as well as health, was the most ancient, traces back to the figure of Demeter. In terracotta statuary, especially in Lucania, the goddess became the prevalent subject of votive or propitiatory offerings, reproduced in numerous variations of pose. The most common is the seated position, a distant tradition and widespread in the ancient world, the so-called 'goddess enthroned' with its multiple meanings, which allowed it to be adapted to various forms of worship. Demeter is a female deity connected to the earthly world and fertility, and therefore also present in Lucanian religiosity. The theme of the archaic protome—a head severed just below the neck—was transformed and expanded between the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., into that of the bust, finished just above the waist.