CIRCA 6TH CENTURY B.C.

The roof tiles running along the eaves of Etruscan buildings were often decorated with antefixes. These mold-made terracottas often took the form of figures or heads, either of humans or mythological creatures. As well as being decorative, architectural terracottas served to shield and protect exposed wooden parts of the architecture from the elements. This antefix depicts a female dancer, possibly a maenad, striding to the right, holding a krotala in her right hand and wearing pointed-toe boots. See I. Jucker, Italy of the Etruscans, Mainz, 1991, p. 257, no. 332, for a closely related parallel.