Statuette of an Ape with Its Baby (Full front, main view)

This tiny figurine is an ancient artist's rendering of an ape with her baby. The ape sits on her rump, her hands outstretched, touching her toes. Her baby--who is shaped like a miniature adult--has clambered onto the mother's head.

Like much art from this era, surface details immediately catch the eye. Horizontal stripes, common in terracotta renderings of animals from this period, decorate the mother's arms and back while vertical stripes run down her belly. Two slightly raised dots of clay painted black, one on each arm, probably represent breasts. The eyes are also formed from raised dots of added clay. Scratches were made on the front of the paws when the clay was still wet to indicate the ape's fingers.

Terracotta figurines such as this were produced in great numbers in Boiotia, the area of ancient Greece just north of Athens and its surrounding area of Attika. Figurines of miniature animals like this one have been found in children's graves where they were probably included as a favorite toy of the deceased.