Getty Museum

Imitation of a Statuette of a Female Reclining on a Couch with Erotes

Date

1875–1890

Medium

Terracotta, pigment, and gold

Culture

Modern

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

An elaborate terracotta composition of a woman reclining on a couch with two erotes. The large couch rests on a flat rectangular base, and there are two circular vent holes in the back. The woman reclines on her left elbow on the well-appointed couch; she leans on two cushions and the couch is sumptuously draped. The ends are highly ornamental, the left terminating in a volute and the right in an eagle or griffin. Behind the woman an eroti drags a large garment across the couch, giving her a backdrop. The folds of all the fabrics are well defined by a series of grooves and ridges. She wears a sleeveless chiton that falls down her right shoulder exposing the breast. The eroti pulling the garment stands on the couch to her right and another eroti stands in front of the couch to the right of a three-legged loutron. The woman's hair is arranged in tight curls, held with a ribbon, and tied in a bow at the back. She holds a piece of cloth with her left hand and a disc-shaped object, perhaps a mirror, with her right. The back is unmodeled except for a few folds indicating the back of the garment. Brown polychromy is used all over; blue and pink are used for the pillows, red for the hair, and gold gilding for the ribbons. Evidence of white slip is well-preserved. The statuette is a nineteenth-century creation, produced to meet a thriving demand for terracotta figurines. J. Paul Getty purchased the piece in 1939, and in his copy of the sale catalogue, he noted "modern?".

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