Getty Museum

Statuette of an Amazon

Date

300–200 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta with white slip

Culture

Greek (South Italian, Tarantine)

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

The crouching figure, with head tilted to her left, extends her arms forward in a manner that suggests the hands were holding a weapon (a sword or an axe). She wears a long, enveloping tunic fastened in the front by a broad band with a raised edge, a fluttering short cape on her shoulders, and a Phrygian cap with broad earflaps, from which curly locks and a spherical earring emerge. In the back there is a small, oval hole; the body and head were made with bivalve molds; the arms and feet were added to the figure before firing. The statuette was probably one of several decorative appliqués on an Apulian or Canosan vase. The Eastern headdress links this figure to the typology of the Amazon, depicted in motion as she is about to deal a blow with her weapon. The statuette entered the collection attached to a base by means of adhesive and a wooden pin. The statuette and base proved not to belong to one another and were separated May 2001.

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.