Statuette of a Kore

This statuette of a female figure wears a peplos, a belted garment with a long overfold that is pinned at the shoulders. Both the figure and the square base on which she stands are carved from a single piece of stone. The head and most of both arms are missing, but the stub of a strut once connected to the left arm is positioned on the left hip. The upper body turns slightly to the left, while the left leg is advanced and the right pulled back. The legs are placed on the base right of center giving the body a dynamic quality as if captured in the midst of movement. The right leg is almost completely engulfed by the deep folds of the drapery, but from the back, the drapery appears stiff and fluted with deep vertical grooves. Sandaled feet emerge from underneath the floor-length drapery. Carved straps connect on top of the foot with an ivy-leaf shape.

The peplophoros (woman wearing a peplos) was a popular Greek statue type. The garment itself was associated with ritual and ceremonial functions, especially during the late Classical and Hellenistic periods. The Getty’s peplophoros displays characteristic Hellenistic workmanship, using as its model examples from the early Classical period. The sandals that the figure wears are thonged and with an indentation in the sole between the first two toes, which are seen only on figures of Hellenistic date, especially during the second century B.C. It has been suggested that statues of women wearing only the peplos are likely to be heroic or divine rather than mortal.