Getty Museum

Statuette of a Dancer

Date

400–200 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta with white slip (white lead) and polychromy: pink (face), light blue and turquoise (leaves of the wreath), purple (hair), violet (himation and chiton), and white (clothing and face), on white slip (white lead).

Culture

Greek (South Italian, Tarantine)

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

A dancer steps forward, looking downward as she moves. Her left arm draws back her himation across her left hip, while her right arm holds folds of the garment in front of her petite, elongated body. The dancer's dress swirls around her feet and the edges of her enveloping cloak flare out at her sides. She wears an ivy wreath in her stylishly arranged hair. Although simple terracotta figures were made throughout the Greek world, Taras (modern Taranto) in South Italy was a leading production center in the Hellenistic period of more sophisticated examples. Female figures, either standing still or dancing, were a common type and have been found in large quantities in religious sanctuaries where they were deposited as offerings to the gods, or as grave goods in burials.

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