CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.

Votive sculptures of children have been found at many sites in Greece, some in funerary contexts. The closest parallels for the present sculpture are the statues of small girls from the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron in Attica, where young girls called arktoi or "little bears" performed a bear-dance at the annual festival. For related examples see no. 27 in Vermeule and Brauer, Stone Sculptures, The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums, and no. 50 in True and Kozloff, A Passion for Antiquities, Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman.