Greek Figurine: Boar
Inv. No.: 69.009
Provenance: Greece
Date: 5th century BC
Height: 73mm
Length: 95mm
A figurine of a boar standing upright on a low plinth. He has an upturned snout and a ridge along his back. There is the slight suggestion of a tail and moulded eyes and ears. The left-hand ear is broken off and there is a crack along the line where the two sides of the figurine were originally joined together. The light orange clay is very abraded and blackened in places. Traces of white and pink remain.
Function:
A child toy or used for votive or funerary purposes; pigs were frequently dedicated to the goddess Demeter.
Manufacture:
Mould-made in two halves that were then joined together.
Bibliography:
Kanowski, M.G., The Antiquities Collection, catalogue, Department of Classics and Ancient History, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 1978, 48.
Sotheby's Catalogue, 29 July 1969, No. 328.
Comparanda:
Chesterman, J., Classical Terracotta Figures, London, Ward Lock, 1974, Fig. 29 (5th century boar from Rhodes).
Higgins, R. A., Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, second edition, London, British Museum, 1970, I (Plates), Plates 33, 177-182 (Rhodian) and 90, 691 (Attic); see also Volume 1: Text (1969), 76-78, 184.
Vassilika, E., Greek and Roman Art, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998, Plate 23 (a boar with a cake; Boeotian, early 5th century).