Hanging Votive with Head of a Goddess

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Hanging Votive with Head of a Goddess

Place of OriginItaly, likely Sicily

Date500-480 BCE

DimensionsH: 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm); W: 4 in. (10.1 cm); Depth: 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm)

MediumEarthenware.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of the Popplestone Family

Object number

2006.82

Not on View

DescriptionThis hollow terracotta fragment depicts the head of a female figure, broken at the neck. The object was produced from a mold and then hand-finished. The figure wears a tall, cylindrical headdress known as a polos, which has a single perforation in the center, presumably for suspension. Her hair is parted in the middle and arranged in shallow waves. The face is oval, with almond-shaped eyes set at an oblique angle and full lips curved into a distinct "Archaic smile".

Label TextThis terracotta head is a fragment from a votive protome, a mold-made bust representing a goddess, likely Demeter or Persephone. The figure is depicted frontally, wearing a tall, cylindrical headdress known as a polos, which signifies divinity. A suspension hole is pierced in the center of the polos, indicating the object was designed to be hung, probably on the wall of a sanctuary or in a tomb.

The object exemplifies the Late Archaic Greek style, dated to ca. 500-480 BCE. This is evident in the characteristic "Archaic smile," the almond-shaped, obliquely set eyes, and the hair arranged in shallow, orderly waves. Attributed to a workshop in Magna Graecia, possibly Sicily , its style reflects the influence of Rhodian terracottas on the region's art. Thermoluminescence testing conducted in 2025 confirmed the ancient date of firing. The head was formerly in the Japanese collection of Takuhiko Fujita and was published in 1982 as part of the Kurashiki Ninagawa Museum's collection.

Published ReferencesJerome M. Eisenberg, "Winter 2002 Antiquities Sales," Minerva vol. 14, no. 2 (2003) 42. Note: This object is neither illustrated nor mentioned in this review, but there is a brief account of the ownership of the 112 lots sold at Christie's as probably "unpublicised long-term loans from Mr. and Mrs. Fujita" to the Kurashiki Ninagawa Museum and "all the property of the recently deceased dealer Takuhiko Fujita," who was the primary source of the Museum. Antiquities, Christie's, New York, 12 December 2002, p. 22, lot 25 (one of three greek terracotta heads) Erika Simon, The Kurashiki Ninagawa Museum, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities. Mainz on Rhine, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1982, 197, no 131.