Female figurine

Characteristic type of Greek Boeotian figurine of the late 5th and the 4th c. BC. It represents a female figure with an elaborate hairstyle and a "kalathos" (basket) on her head. She holds a flower or a fruit in her raised right hand. The figurine, which is hollow and has a firing hole at the back, has been made in a mould and is decorated with bright colours. The incomplete rendering of some traits, such as the hair on the left side and the eyes, indicates that the mould was already worn when used for the manufacture of the figurine. The iconographic type is reminiscent of the well-known Karyatids and may have been influenced from late 5th c. BC Attic sculpture. The symbolism of these figurines is vague. On account of their pose and similarity to korai, they are considered to represent maidens or attendants at the wedding ceremony and are thus associated with the cult of Demeter Thesmophoros, a deity associated with marriage, who was worshiped in Boeotia from ancient times. The well-preserved traces of colour are a reminder of the rich decoration borne by most of the figurines and sculptures in antiquity. They also attest to the special care artists took not only over the faithful reproduction of the form but also over the realistic depiction of the attire, coiffure and other cosmetic elements.