Mould-Made Figure of a Veiled Woman Holding a Flower

Cypro-Archaic II to Cypro-Classical I, c. 550–450 BCE · Terracotta · Mould-made

A small standing woman pressed from a single mould. A tall veil rises to a point above the head and falls in a smooth mantle over the shoulders, framing a small oval face. One arm is bent, the elbow projecting at the side, to bring the hand to the chest, where it holds a small rounded object, most probably a flower; the other arm hangs at the side against the garment. The long dress falls in shallow vertical folds to the break just above the feet. The orange-brown clay is worn and slightly blurred, with a pale deposit around the face and shoulders. The feet and base are lost, and the piece stands on a modern mount.

Commentary

The figure belongs to the mould-made female votaries that spread through Cypriot sanctuaries during the sixth century BCE, alongside the older handmade snowman figures. Jacqueline Karageorghis gathers the moulded women holding a flower to the breast as a recurrent type in her corpus of Cypro-Archaic female figurines [1]. The gesture is one of offering: the worshipper presents a flower to the deity, and the figure stood in the sanctuary as her lasting dedication.

The closest published parallels are small, solid, single-mould figures. Metropolitan 74.51.1567 (Cesnola Cat. 179, said to come from Amathus, H. 16.5 cm) is a standing woman made from a worn mould, flat-backed, grasping what may be a flower, and perhaps veiled; it is dated c. 600–480 BCE and compared with Karageorghis's type [2][1]. Louvre MNB 131, a woman holding a flower made in a single mould and retaining traces of red and black paint, is dated c. 525–475 BCE [3]. Metropolitan 74.51.1582 (Cesnola Cat. 213, said to come from Soli) is another worn-mould figure with the right arm against the chest, probably holding a flower [2]. A larger version from the sanctuary at Achna, British Museum 1883,0106.24, wears a veil and several necklaces and holds a possible flower to the breast [4].

The softness of the modelling here is typical of figures pressed from worn moulds, which were used for long runs of nearly identical votives [2]. The date follows the parallels: the moulded single-figure votary is established in the second half of the sixth century and continues into the fifth, so a range of c. 550–450 BCE, late Archaic or early Classical, is the most defensible; the type could run later.

Two points remain uncertain. The veil rising to a distinct point is less common than the rounded veils of most parallels, and the object in the hand is too worn to identify with certainty. The piece has no find-spot, and without a close study of the fabric it cannot be attributed to a particular kingdom's workshop; fabric has proved useful in separating the regional productions of Cypriot figurines [5].