Magna Graecia, Apulia, Canosan Hellenistic Period, ca. 3rd century BCE. A fantastically expressive votive figure of a standing woman, made to serve as a mourner, although with her hand on her hip and her head tilt she appears more sardonic than sad to this modern viewer. She stands naturalistically, with detailed clothing and hair and a lifelike face. Canosa, or Canosion as it was known then, was a major center of the ceramics and pottery trade when it was a Greek polis. It produced truly unique pottery, completely different in decoration style (although not in shape) from earlier and neighboring traditions. The clay is buff, with the decoration applied directly to it without the use of slip. The white pigment still visible in so many places here is part of that technique; there are also nice traces of pink, especially on her hair. Size: 3.1" W x 7.45" H (7.9 cm x 18.9 cm)
Female figures like this one played an interesting role in Canosan funerary practices. They were placed into Canosan tombs as replacements for large red-figure kraters from the century before, but first, mourners carried them in funerary processions and kept them present while they carried out rituals at the tomb. Although almost all of the statues known from Canosan tombs are women, they seem to represent goddesses or mourners, rather than the gender of the deceased - in this society, young women played a major role as mourners. The Canosans, like other members of Classical society, believed that the spirits of the dead remained at the tomb and watched over the living. Canosan tombs were re-opened frequently to bury members of the same lineage, and so these figures were probably reused as well, maintaining the connection between the living and the dead.
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection
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#143517
Condition
Head has been repaired. Otherwise in nice condition with nice remaining pigment and deposits in lower profile areas.