Seated female figurine



Seated female figurine

Π16443
Clay
Fair (missing hands and feet)
Height: 14 cm.
Traostalos
Traostalos, "Peak Sanctuary"
Middle Bronze Age, Protopalatial period, Middle Minoan IIB-IIIA period:
1800 -1650 BC:
Gallery:
VII
Case:
68
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). Minoan religion - Domestic and open-air cult
Open-air Sanctuaries. Peak Sanctuaries
Description
Female figurine with a broad, disc-shaped, painted headdress over which locks of hair are braided. She is seated on a solid rectangular stand, perhaps a throne. The applied oval breasts are pressed downwards. The preserved left leg is obviously swollen but symmetrical compared to the corresponding swelling of the hips. A shin fragment, clearly much thinner than the preserved leg, has been joined to the bent right knee. The broken arms, horizontally extended to the sides, may have bent back towards the body. On the back of the figure is a pointed “Medici collar”, a typical element of the Protopalatial bodice. The different sizes of the legs, particularly the restored right leg, indicate that the figurine was a votive offering for healing. However, seated female figures are a common pictorial element of many multifigured scenes, mainly of the Neopalatial period.
Bibliography:
Davaras 1976, Guide to Cretan Antiquities, p. 246 - 248, fig. 138. Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, 2005, Το Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ηρακλείου, p. 95.
Author:
D. S.


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