Terracotta Figure with Upraised Arms and Flaring Headdress

Cypro-Archaic, c. 750–480 BCE, probably 7th–6th century BCE · Terracotta · Handmade, solid

A solid handmade figure in pale buff clay with a rough, lumpy surface carrying patches of earthy accretion and scattered dark specks. The columnar body is slightly irregular and ends in a splayed, uneven foot. The arms are short curved horns of clay rising from the shoulders, one raised a little higher than the other. The face is a single pinched nose with a pellet ear at each side. The headdress widens as it rises, from the brow to a broad top whose upper edge is chipped, uneven and sloping, giving it the profile of a flaring polos. As on its companion piece, a band of dark red-brown colour rings the neck.

Commentary

This is a second example of the Cypro-Archaic handmade figure with upraised arms, made in the snowman technique described by Gjerstad: a solid column body, stump arms raised, and a beak-like face [1]. The label "goddess with uplifted arms" is traditional, but the figures may as well be worshippers or priestesses as goddesses; the raised arms are a gesture of prayer or reverence familiar across the Near East [2]. Handmade figures of the type were among the most common dedications in the island's sanctuaries in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE and were also placed in tombs [3].

The piece differs from STA-AR-004 mainly in the headdress. Where the other figure wears a tall, straight cylinder, this one wears a headdress that broadens upward into a wide top, a variant found within the same class. The arms are shorter and the modelling of body and foot is coarser. No breasts are applied, so the sex of the figure is not indicated, although the polos is usually female headgear [2]. The closest published analogue for the construction remains the Cesnola figure 74.51.1615 in the Metropolitan Museum (cat. 157), with its handmade solid body flaring at the bottom, upcurved arms, prominent nose, pellet ears and high flat tiara, dated Cypro-Archaic II [4]. Handmade women with high headdresses and outstretched arms are also recorded among the Cypriot terracottas exported to Naukratis in Egypt, where five examples were found in the sanctuary of Aphrodite [5].

The shared fabric, the same pinched nose and pellet ears, and the identical red-brown collar suggest that this figure and STA-AR-004 may come from one workshop, and perhaps from one deposit, although we know of no find-spot for either. The collar needs checking in hand: it may be ancient red paint, but its position exactly at the join of head and body on both figures raises the possibility of reattached heads with tinted fills. Until that is established the figure should not be described as intact.