A

GREEK THE

TERRACOTTA HEAD
LATE LARCHAIC
BY GISELA M. A. RICHTER
Curator of Greek and Roman A/1l

OF

PERIOD

When we think of Greek sculpture we are apt to recall marble and perhaps bronze works. This picture is not a true one, but is merely due to the accident of survival and may change as new evidence comes in. For one of the attractions of archaeology is that our knowledge is not static but is continually growing. As new (liscoveries are made our data are corrected and enlarged and our visualization of the ancient world becomes gradually more precise. It used to be thought, for instance, that, though Greece had abundant supplies of excellent clay and artists constantly used View shozong the int

A.D.,mentions terracotta statues of heroes and deities inside buildings and does not imply that
they were rarities (cf. I. 2.5-3.1 and vii. 22.9).

A life-size terracotta head recently acquired by the Museum from the Brummer collection enables us to study an outstanding example of this type of sculpture in detail. The condition may be seen in the illustrations. Only a few -.....:::
.... t f
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t-hree..

parts are missing. The view quarters

hr, ....n Lid, the hEavy c w. o th
-fi

Kl stylized

charm,.. .
c
,

shows the right eye, the left side of the nose, the right side of the lips, and the right side of the front hair
restored from corresponding the extant

1t e
_

T I minn
?rior

parts.
of the head on the The head belongs to

this material for statuthe late archaic period ite opposI e page ettes and pottery durand has the subtle ing all periods, they rarely employed it for large charm and delicacy of that time. The beautisculptures, whereas in Italy, especially in Etru- fully stylized hair, the protruding eyeballs, the ria, terracotta was a favorite material for monu- heavy lids, the incipient smile are all in accordmental sculpture also. The reason adduced was ance with the old conventions. But there is a that Greece had easy access to marble quarries new quality-a self-contained dignity that and Italy had not-until Roman times when heralds the early classical epoch with its new the quarries of Carrara began to be systemati- interest in the emotional life of the individual. cally worked. Enough largish terracotta sculp- This mingling of conventions and naturalism, tures, however, from all over Greece (Olympia, of stylized and realistic form, is one of the Thebes, Halai, Athens, Delphi, Corinth, Kaly- great achievements of Greek art. Let us first examine how the head was made, don, Thermon), are now known to make us realize that terracotta was also used in Greece for large terracotta sculpture requires special for major works. Many of these sculptures are handling. The fracture at the bottom shows architectural, parts of antefixes or akroteria or that it was worked hollow with very thick walls pediments of buildings. But not all. Some must (see ill. above). It was apparently part of a figure have been dedications set up in sanctuaries or which was built from the bottom up in layers cult statues placed in temples. They endorse of coarse red clay (i.e., plastic clay mixed with the testimony of Pausanias, who in his Descrip- sand and bits of fired clay to increase its porostion of Greece, written in the second century ity, prevent excessive shrinkage, and avoid dis150

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Greek terracotta head of the late archaic period

tortion during firing). This core of coarse clay was then covered with a somewhat finer and lighter red clay for surface modeling, and finally with a yellowish white slip (i.e., liquid clay) applied with a brush (the brush marks are still visible). The resultant smooth, whitish surface approximated women's flesh and made a good base for the application of color; for this piece, like all Greek sculpture, was polychrome. The colors have survived in part-ocher red, now for the most part purplish, on the iris, the earrings, and the diadem; black on the hair, the eyebrows, the edges of the eyelids (to suggest

lashes), for a ring round the iris and for modeling lines on ears and earrings. Doubtless there was once also black on the pupils of the eyes and red on the lips. The headdress is decorated on its lower band with a white meander (not continued at the back); the flaring upper part (now mostly missing) was presumably ornamented with a lotus pattern-to judge by similar examples. The firing probably took place when the work was completed, with the colors applied. As in Greek pottery, we may predicate a single firing. Nothing would be gained by incurring

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View showing restored right eye, left side of nose, and parts of hair and lips the risks involved more than once. Since the head is life size it probably was not part of the akroterion of a temple (unless the latter was exceptionally large) but belonged to a statue-of a woman, or goddess, or sphinx. The back is not worked out in detail, indicating that it was not intended to be seen. The style of the head places it at the end o' the archaic period. T'he rendering of the hair in a series of sharply defined zigzag ridges, the treatment of the eyes, the strongly curving lips, the subtly modeled cheeks, the long oval face with the rather heavy lower part recall, for instance, the marble maidens from the Akropolis of Athens, nos. 674, 684, 685, 696. Our head has the same quiet dignity and distinguished bearing. We may therefore date it around 50o490 B.c., with a leeway of a few years. Whether the head was a product of Athens, or Corinth, or of some other Greek city, it is impossible to say. The technique was canonical at the time. As it comes from a private source its history is difficult to verify. It is said to have been found near Olympia, many years ago. If

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Profile view. The back of the head is unfinished. by chance this is true, it nevertheless does not help in attributing the head to a specific city. sanctuary Olympia was an "international" where sculptors and dedicators from all over Greece congregated. We must be content, therelore, to call our head typically Greek, a rare and beautiful example of late archaic art, skilfully produced in a difficult technique. The accession number of the head is 47.100.3. Its height is 81/8 inches..A thick lime incrustation which covered parts of the surface has been removed in places but remains here and there, especially on the top. I am indebted to Maude Robinson for several important observations concerning the technique. The most recent discussions of Greek terracotta sculptures are by the late Humfry Payne in Necro-corinthia, I93I, pp. 232 ff., and by in Olympia Emil Kunze "Terrakottaplastik" I plan to discuss the Bericht, IIi, 1941, pp. II9 ff. question of a Corinthian center of terracotta sculpture there predicated in a future article in the American Journal of Archaeology.

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