TANAGRA, HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.

The production of lively terracotta figures in the Greek world reached an apex in the Hellenistic period. Manufacturing techniques utilizing multiple molds for a single figure allowed for a variety of poses, with the freedom of gesturing and expression satiating a hunger for novelty. Simultaneously, artisans sought inspiration from the mortal world, specifically women and children, rather than deities. These more worldly terracottas likely originated in Athens and were disseminated and then imitated in other coroplastic production centers. Among the most famous centers was Tanagra, on the north slope of Mt. Kerykios in eastern Boeotia. Its fame was paramount in the late 19th century, when clandestine excavations revealed over 10,000 graves, plush with Hellenistic terracotta figurines. As Uhlenbrock describes (The Coroplast's Art, Greek Terracottas of the Hellenistic World, p. 49), they are "attractive terracotta figurines representing seated and standing draped women, youths and small children, and Eros, all exuding an air of cosmopolitan charm and intelligence." Most were of a standard formula, with the standing draped female as the most ubiquitous, usually overwhelmed and fully enveloped by her heavy himation. Seated figurines, such as the present example, were never as common as those standing. According to Higgins (Tanagra and the Figurines, p. 143), the seated figure "presented aesthetic problems which could not easily be solved within the very narrow limits of the Tanagra style."