 | 16424 | (none) | 1931,1010.1 | (none) | Statue. White limestone, with eyes inlaid with shell and lapis; traces of black paint on hair. Female figure standing, hands clasped in front of the body. Nose broken, one eye pupil restored. The hair is simply treated with curls across the forehead, then a broad bandeau; the back hair is brought up & over the bandeau in a small chignon and hangs in a heavy wave above the shoulders & at back of head. She wears a plain chiton & heavy cloak falling from the shoulders over the arms in straight lines to the feet. The feet are missing, the base of the stone being broken away; when found the statue was let into a round baase and bitumen had been plastered round it & smoothed down so as to make a spreading skirt at the expense of loss of design to the figure, which was this reduced from an original height ofc. 54mm to 37mm (the bitumen has been kept on by waxing). It had also been broken in half and mended with bitumen. The workmanship is not very good, and the decayed surface of the stone does it less than justice - but the type is a good classical one. The statue was obviously an antiquity given a place of honor in a temple which must date to circ. BC; so that the date of the statue might well be as early as the 3rd dynasty of UR. |