LOT 0084

Greek Terracotta Figural Plaque

4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.

4 in. (6 in.) (197 grams, 10.3 cm high (344 grams total, 15 cm high including stand)).

Comprising two acephalic nude figures: the female shown from behind with rounded buttocks and a voluminous garment draped over her shoulders; the male figure shown frontally with his weight on his left leg, leaning against the female, left hand resting on his hip; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Ex French Sorbonne archaeology professor (deceased); 1960s-2000s.

Cf. for similar but not identical couple in terracotta in Sporn, K., ‘Hellenistic Terracotta Figurines from Syme Viannou’ in Πεπραγμένα του IA΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου, Ρέθυμνον, 20-27 Οκτωβρίου 2011, Τόμος Α 2.2 Τμήμα Αρχαιολογικό. Τάφοι – Ταφικές Πρακτικές – Φυσική Ανθρωπολογία. Νέες ανασκαφικές έρευνες. Τεχνολογία – Τέχνη – Εικονογραφία, Rethymnon, 2018, pp.125-136, fig.6.

The couple represented here could be a depiction of Eros and Psyche. Terracotta figurines of these divinities are quite common in Hellenistic Asia Minor, the Black Sea, the Near East, with examples from Amisos, Ephesos, Priene and possibly Smyrna, but also in the Cyrenaica and in Sicily. In mainland Greece there are a few examples of related types from Beroia and Pella. However, not all the figurines of couples depict Eros and Psyche. Different types are known from other areas of Greece in the late Hellenistic period, on Crete there are close parallels from the Idaean cave.