• Clay torso of male figurine



Clay torso of male figurine
Clay torso of male figurine

Clay torso of male figurine

Π11401
Pink clay
Only the upper body is preserved from the waist up
Height: 5.3 cm.
Gortyn
Sanctuary of Athena on the Acropolis
Early Archaic period:
640-630 BC:
Gallery:
XVII
Case:
168
Exhibition thematic unit:
Geometric - Archaic - Classical period (10th - 4th c. BC). The Sanctuaries. From Minoan cult to the amalgamation of religious beliefs
Sanctuaries
Description
Upper part of a male figurine cast in a single mould. It depicts a frontal, naked male figure, arms bent in front of the sternum with loosely closed hands. This gesture, familiar from Minoan coroplastic, reappears in 7th-century Crete in various forms of Daedalic art, albeit rarely. Some scholars identify the figure as the epiphany of the Young God, but it seems more probable that he is a worshipper in an attitude of prayer or making a cult gesture. The anatomy is quite naturalistically rendered. The triangular face has fine, expressive features, with the typical "layered wig" hairstyle framing the face and crowning the forehead.
Bibliography:
G. Rizza - V. Santamaria Scrinari, Il santuario dell'acropoli di Gortina, I, Roma 1968, 175, no. 161, 203 and passim, tav. ΧΧIV, fig. 257, 314a-b. O. Pilz, “The language of gesture in Archaic Cretan art: the evidence of the terracotta relief plaques”, Πεπραγμένα Ι΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου (Χανιά, 1-8.10.2006), Chania 2011, vol. Α5, 369-381, esp. 372, fig. 2.
Author:
K. S.


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