c. 600 BCE
Flat lead figurine of a winged goddess facing left. Long tresses of hair fall over her shoulders. Her long skirt is decorated with three patterned bands arranged vertically: diamonds, herringbone, and a simple line. A line across the chest indicates that she may be wearing a garment with an overfold, such as a peplos. The feet, top of the head, proper right wing, proper left hand, and tip of the left wing are lost. Other figurines of the same type show that the goddess wore a high, cylindrical headgear (polos), that she may have held wreaths, and that the wings were sickle-shaped. The plain back of the figurine suggests that it was cast in a one-sided mold.
3.7 x 2.2 cm (1 7/16 x 7/8 in.)
Humfry Payne Collection (?-1936), England. [Galerie Gunter Puhze, Freiburg, Germany, 2001], sold; to The Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (2001-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.
Alabaster-like marble
2nd century CERomanSandstone; from Tianlongshan Cave 3, near Taiyuan, Shanxi province
6th centuryChinesePlaster
19th centuryItalianCast bronze with dark brown and golden patina
19th centuryFrenchWood
18th centuryAustrianBuff sandstone
8th centuryIndianElectrotype of gold original; repoussé
19th-20th centuryMycenaeanLimestone, remains of pigment
7th century BCEEgyptianLimestone
4th-1st century BCEEgyptianWood with traces of polychromy
11th-12th centuryJapanese