Toward the end of the fourth century B.C., Attic grave monuments became increasingly elaborate. Freestanding figures such as these were often placed within a shallow, roofed, marble structure that was open at the front. The older girl shown here must have died in her teens, before marriage, for she wears her mantle pinned at the shoulders and hanging down her back. This distinctive manner of dress was apparently reserved for young virgins who had the honor of leading processions to sacrifice, while carrying a basket containing barley, fillets, and the sacrificial knife. Being a kanephoros (basket bearer) was the highest honor possible for a maiden in the years just preceding marriage, and this girl is represented wearing the festival dress.
#1058. Marble funerary statues of a maiden and a little girl
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Artwork Details
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Title:Marble funerary statues of a maiden and a little girl
Period:Late Classical
Date:ca. 320 BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Marble, Pentelic
Dimensions:H. of woman 56 7/8 in. (144.5 cm) H. of girl 40 9/16 in. (103 cm)
Classification:Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1944
Object Number:44.11.2, .3
Probably from Athens (Richter 1944)
[By 1927, with Costis A. Lembessis, Paris]; [1927, acquired by Joseph Brummer, purchased from C.A. Lembessis]; [1927-1944, with Joseph Brumer, New York (P4275; P4276)]; acquired in February 1944, purchased from J. Brummer.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1944. "Two Greek Statues." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 3(2): pp. 48–53.
Richter, Gisela Marie Augusta. 1944. "Two Greek Statues." American Journal of Archaeology, 48(3): pp. 229–39.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 141, 280, pls. 120a–b, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1954. Catalogue of Greek Sculptures. no. 94, pp. 62–64, pls. 76–77, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Forsyth, William Holmes and The International Confederation of Dealers in Works of Art. 1974. "Acquisitions from the Brummer Gallery." The Grand Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Sixth International Exhibition presented by C.I.N.O.A.. p. 2, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Roccos, Linda Jones. 1991. "Athena from a House on the Areopagus." Hesperia, 60(3): p. 399, pl. 112c.
Flashar, Martin. 1992. "Apollon Kitharodos: Statuarische Typen des musischen Apollon." Ph.D. Diss. pp. 54 n. 316, 85, 97 n. 598. Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.
Clairmont, Christoph W. 1993. Classical Attic Tombstones, Vol. 1. no. 1.971, pp. 513–14, Kilchberg: Akanthus.
Palagia, Olga. 1997. "Reflections on the Piraeus Bronzes." Greek Offerings: Essays on Greek Art in Honour of John Boardman, Dr. Olga Palagia, ed. p. 193 n. 77 n. 83, Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 166, pp. 147, 436, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Schultz, Peter and Ralf von den Hoff. 2007. Early Hellenistic Portraiture: Image, Style, Context p. 91, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bol, Peter C. 2007. Die Geschichte der antiken Bildhauerkunst III: Hellenistische Plastik. pp. 6–10, 13, 21, 24, 25, 29, fig. 6, Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Childs, William A.P. 2018. Greek Art & Aesthetics in the Fourth Century B.C.. pp. 37 n. 113. 225, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Böhm, Stephanie. 2018. "Das Hesperidenrelief aus dem Zyklus der Dreifigurenreliefs und seine klassizistischen Züge." Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 133: p. 246 n. 12.
Zanker, Paul. 2022. Afterlives : Ancient Greek Funerary Monuments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 20, pp. 78–80, New York: Scala Publishers.
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