SculptureParthian1st century BCE-2nd century CE

Reclining Woman

1st century BCE-2nd century CE

Description

This small alabaster figure represents a nude reclining woman, her legs, back, and proper left arm draped in a mantle. Several features of the original figure are not preserved: the hair was added in stucco or bitumen, the eyes were inlaid, and details such as jewelry were rendered in paint. Both feet and the lower part of the proper left arm are lost (the break in the arm was cut and drilled in modern times to attach the statuette to a wooden base).

Classification

Sculpture

Technique

Carved

Medium

Alabaster

Culture

Parthian

Period

Parthian period

Century

1st century BCE-2nd century CE

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics

Dimensions

L. 17.1 cm (6 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Rudolf Meyer-Riefstahl (1880-1936) and Elizabeth Titzel Riefstahl (1889-1986), New York, by descent; to their son, Rudolf Meyer Riefstahl II (1929-2011), Rochester, Massachusetts. Private Collection, Massachusetts, (2011-2013), sold; [through Sotheby's, New York, 5 June 2013] lot 93, to Harvard Art Museums, 2013.