Bronze
H: 7.5 cm
Provenance: no indication
Chiusine
Post-Dedalic. c. 580-560 B.C.
Solid-cast by the lost wax process, burnished and certain anatomical details as well as hatching on the braids, etc. done in the cold.
Condition: patina bluish-green with reddish cuprite patches over a dark greyish metal surface.
The four long fingers of the right hand missing.
The figure stands on short, stubby feet, arms outstretched with hands extended, the left palm open. She wears a long, sleeveless dress, probably a peplos, belted high beneath the short overfold. Her head, on top of an inexistent neck, is trapezoidal and projects forward; a short fringe over her forehead is surmounted by a small, smooth cap. Her long hair hangs down in braids, two on either side of the face and five down her back. Both her dress and hairstyle show Greek influence [1].
She is almost certainly a votive.
We have an almost identical comparison from the same workshop, possibly even by the same hand, though slightly less fine, in Perugia [2].
From memory, it seems to us that it might be of interest to compare with the head (face and profile) of an Etruscan bronze centaur in Berlin [3].
Exhibited and Published:
Italy of the Etruscans, cat. no. 131, pp. 122-123 ill.
1 Richardson, E.: Etruscan Votive Bronzes. Geometric, Orientalizing, Archaic (Mainz, 1983), p. 253.
2 Perugia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale dell'Umbria 926 (862); Richardson, E.: op. cit., Series A, Post-Dedalic, no. 1, p. 253 pl. 169, fig. 559-560.
3 Berlin, Antikenmuseum Fr. 2297: Heilmeyer, W.-D.: Antikenmuseum Berlin (Berlin, 1988), no. 16, p. 209.
