Bust of a Maenad

Place of OriginUnknown

Date3rd-2nd century BCE

Dimensions16 × 14 1/2 × 7 in. (40.6 × 36.8 × 17.8 cm)

MediumOrange-red clay; fired earthenware

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, by exchange

Object number

2009.1

Not on View

DescriptionBust of a woman, with head turned to her right. She wears a chiton (thin under tunic) fasterned with a bow on her right shoulder, and a himation (cloak) drawn up over the back of her head. Her long hair is combed to the sides from a center part and covered with a wreath of ivy leaves and berries, the ribbon ends of which fall down the sides of her neck. There are three circular vent holes, one in the back of the head and one below each shoulder.

Published ReferencesSotheby & Co., Antiquities, London, 12 July 1971, pp. 34–35, lot 88.

Sotheby's, Antiquities: Auction 8500: Egyptian, Classical and Western Asiatic Antiquities, Including Property from the Collection of Denys Sutton and Property from the Collection of W. Arnold Meijer, New York, Sotheby's, 2008, p. 80, lot 53.

Comparative ReferencesCf. Pasquier, Alain, et al., Tanagra: Mythe et archéologie, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 2003.

Cf. Higgins, Reynold Alleyne, Greek Terracottas, London, Methuen, 1967.

Cf. Mollard-Besques, Simone, Les terres cuites grecques, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1963.

Cf. Higgins, Reynold Alleyne, Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I: Greek: 730–330 B.C., London, British Museum, 1954.

Cf. Thompson, Dorothy Burr, Terra-cottas from Myrina in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Vienna, A. Holzhausens Nachfolger, 1934.

Cf. Mendel, Gustave, Catalogue des figurines grecques de terre cuite, Constantinople, Typographie et lithographie A. Ihsan, 1908.

Cf. Wiegand, Theodor, and Hans Schrader, Priene: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen in den Jahren 1895–1898, Berlin, Georg Reimer, 1904.

Cf. Walters, Henry Beauchamp, Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, London, British Museum, 1903.