Getty Museum

Statuette of a Seated Old Woman

Date

400–200 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Greek (South Italian, Tarantine)

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

The figure of an old woman, hunched slightly forward, is seated on a stool. She wears a chiton, beneath which the sagging breasts and belly are visible; originally the arms were extended forward. The very large head has roughly modeled, caricatured facial features: furrowed eyebrows on a forehead marked by two deep creases, elongated eyes with upper eyelids exaggerated to suggest swelling, broad nose, large mouth with half-open swollen lips twisted into a mocking smile. The hair is pulled back into a sakkos, or fabric cap, that culminates in a broad bow. She wears sandals, and there are small holes on either the side of the head. Statuettes depicting seated old women belong to the repertory of comic-theater characters, whose physical imperfections were a source of humor.

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