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Lot Essay
Ourania, the Muse of astronomy, is depicted seated on a pile of rocks, with her right leg crossing over her left. She wears a chiton with a mantle wrapped tightly around her body, the drapery cascading down her legs, with her sandaled feet visible below the hem. She is leaning forward with her right arm resting on her thigh, with her hand originally supporting her chin.
As B.S. Ridgeway informs (p. 253 in Hellenistic Sculpture I), Muses sitting on rocks is a form that first appears on red-figured vases of the fifth century and may be associated with their connection to mountainous areas. Here, Ourania’s enveloping mantle and pose convey chastity. Depictions of the seated goddess in the round are well known from surviving examples, including one in Liebighaus, Frankfurt and one at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (see pls. 130-131 in Ridgeway, op. cit.). Of the Frankfurt Muse, as also seen in the present example, Ridgeway (op. cit., pp. 266-267) notes that Ourania’s pose is strongly three-dimensional and that her torsion recalls 4th century Lysippan predecessors. The popularity of the Muse sculpted in the round in the Hellenistic and Roman eras suggests that its earlier Greek prototype, now lost, was well known and highly visible.
As B.S. Ridgeway informs (p. 253 in Hellenistic Sculpture I), Muses sitting on rocks is a form that first appears on red-figured vases of the fifth century and may be associated with their connection to mountainous areas. Here, Ourania’s enveloping mantle and pose convey chastity. Depictions of the seated goddess in the round are well known from surviving examples, including one in Liebighaus, Frankfurt and one at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (see pls. 130-131 in Ridgeway, op. cit.). Of the Frankfurt Muse, as also seen in the present example, Ridgeway (op. cit., pp. 266-267) notes that Ourania’s pose is strongly three-dimensional and that her torsion recalls 4th century Lysippan predecessors. The popularity of the Muse sculpted in the round in the Hellenistic and Roman eras suggests that its earlier Greek prototype, now lost, was well known and highly visible.