Kourion Complex (Stadium), terracotta objects 1948

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Curium terracottas, cont.

from an up-to-date mold. Every face-mold represented by two or more impressions has been minutely studied, measured, photographed and given a mold-number. There are over 50 such numbered molds and they are represented by as many as 200 and as few as 2 casts each. To restrict the space consumed by the necessary catalogue in the publication, and to confine discussion to points of real interest and importance, the examples will be tabulated by mold, much in the manner of numismatic catalogues.

The face-molds used were taken from other (usually imported) terracottas dating in general from the early fifth century to late Hellenistic times. These were no doubt complete figures of quite different types when the [handwritten: Kourion] Curium coroplasts pirated them; thus, among the molds used for horsemen and charioteers [handwritten: /] we find the faces of Heracles with his lionskin, of fauns, satyrs, and others, with their distinguishing attributes more or less disguised to suit [handwritten: them to] their new roles. An original, complete, terracotta figure from which one of the Curium molds was taken has been identified in the Cyprus Museum. This original, of non-Cypriote origin, represents a seated slave or pedagogue in good Hellenistic tradition but, like all, he becomes a horseman or charioteer [handwritten: Kourion] at Curium. Examination of other collections of the Eastern Mediterranean will probably yield other prototypes, but the search for lost Greek masterpieces finds unexpected riches at [handwritten: Kourion] Curium among these seemingly unpretentious dedications, for in many cases they are likely to be the only examples preserved of what was once the fine work of a Greek master. And the skill with which the [handwritten: Kourion] Curium artists, at their best, adapted the use of these molds to their own special technique has often produced small masterpieces in themselves.

Greek lands were not the only source of inspiration, for some of the molds used are clearly derived not from any