Glossary Sculpture, figurines and art
Coroplast
Also called: coroplastic
A maker of terracotta figurines; coroplastic art is the modelling of figures in fired clay, the largest class of Cypriot figurative art.
The word comes from the Greek for a modeller of small figures. In Cypriot archaeology it covers every clay figure from Bronze Age plank figures to Hellenistic mould-made statuettes. The standard reference is the multi-volume catalogue The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus, by Vassos Karageorghis with a volume by Jacqueline Karageorghis, whose volumes are divided by period, subject and technique.
Iron Age Cypriot coroplasts shaped figures by hand in the snowman technique, threw hollow bodies on the wheel, and from the mid-seventh century BCE pressed them in moulds. Their subjects include votaries, musicians, horse riders and scenes of daily life such as women grinding grain and kneading dough. See how Cypriot figurines are classified.
Full entry: How Cypriot Figurines Are Classified
Related terms
- Mould-made
Made by pressing clay into a hollow mould, so that many near-identical figures, faces, lamps or bricks could be produced from one master.
- Votary
A worshipper shown in a statue or figurine, usually dedicated in a sanctuary to stand before the deity on the donor's behalf.
- Proto-Cypriote style
The earliest of Einar Gjerstad's style groups for Cypro-Archaic sculpture, dated in his scheme to about the late seventh and early sixth centuries BCE.
Where it appears
- Snowman Figurines
- Horse and Rider Figurines
- Birds in Ancient Cyprus
- The Statues of Ancient Cyprus
- Music and Musical Instruments in Ancient Cyprus
- Neolithic and Picrolite Figurines
- Red Polished Zoomorphic Vessels and Animal Figurines
- Arms and Armour of Iron Age Cyprus
- Base Ring Figurines (Astarte Type)
- Food and Diet in Ancient Cyprus
- Free-Field Style: Birds, Bulls and Lotus on Cypro-Archaic Jugs
- Furniture in Ancient Cyprus
and 2 more compendium pages