Anthropomorphic female figure fragment: head and body
1800-1700 BCE
Description
This object is a fragmentary, handmade terracotta figurine that depicts an anthropomorphic female figure, of which about three-quarters survives: the head, arms, torso, and the upper part of the legs are present. The figure’s eyes are large and round, made of applied circular pellets indented with a pointed circular tool. A thin, vertical triangle projects as a beak-like nose. A round applied pellet is deeply indented on the forehead above the nose. No mouth is indicated. She wears a headdress above, extant as a lunate form. It is broken at the top; it, thus, is difficult to determine its original shape (circular, lunate, or flat on top, for example) and whether it was perforated. On either side of the face are a rounded projections with two round perforations, representing ears, part of the headdress, or hair. A necklace decorates the base of her long neck; made of an applied strip of clay, it is decorated by a rouletted line. Stub arms project to either side from a violin-shaped body with wide, round hips. In the center of the torso, an applied circular pellet with a circular indentation forms a navel. The pubic area is outlined through incision with a horizontal line above and a curving line below; the lower line meets the vertical groove that delineates the legs. Preservation makes it difficult to discern how the pubic area was decorated (horizontal rouletting or other kind of incision?). The figurine’s back is flat and undecorated except for two divots on the back of her hips and a vertical grove that delineates the legs, as on the front. This flatness is indicative of the forming process, in which the clay was pressed against a flat surface. A break at the neck (likely occurring in modernity) has been mended. Clay fabric: Munsell 7.5YR 7/3 pink to 6/4 light brown. Fine to small white specks, with frequent fine voids.
Dimensions
H. 7.1 × W. 3.6 × D. 1.6 cm (2 13/16 × 1 7/16 × 5/8 in.)
Provenance
Harry J. Denberg, New York, NY (by 1969), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1969.
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