South Italian Figurine: Standing Artemis

Inv. No.: 92.001
Provenance: South Italy - Taras
Date: c. 350 BC
Height: 238mm
Width: 96mm
 
A large statuette of a standing Artemis, set on a high oval plinth. She wears a polos on her head, a belted chiton with an overfall and a himation that is draped over the polos and her shoulders. She bears her weight on her right leg while her left leg is relaxed and slightly bent at the knee. She holds a spear against her left side with her left hand. On her feet are boots, a sign that she is a huntress. With her right hand she touches the muzzle of a hound, another attribute of Artemis. The clay is light orange in colour with darker incrustation and traces of white.

Function:
Used for votive or funerary purposes.

Manufacture:
A hollow, mould-made figurine; the back is flat with a large oval vent hole in the centre.

Bibliography:
Greek and Roman Terracotta Sculpture, Charles Ede Catalogue, XII (1992), 10.

Higgins, R. A., Greek Terracottas, London, Methuen, 1967, 90-91.

Maddoli, G., "Cults and Religious Doctrines of the Western Greeks", The Western Greeks, ed. G. P. Carratelli, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 1996, 481-498.

Comparanda:
Carratelli, G. P. (ed.), The Western Greeks, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 1996, 378, VI (statuette of Artemis, from Sicily; late 5^th/early 4^th century). , Zürich and München, Artemis, 1984, II, 2, Artemis 648 (Sicilian; 3^rd-2^nd century BC) and Artemis 931 (Tarentine; end of 5^th-beginning of 4^th century BC).

Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae

Vassilika, E., Greek and Roman Art, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998, Plate 30 (Cypriot figurine of Artemis; c. 450-440 BC).