CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

A CYPRIOT LIMESTONE VOTIVE BUST OF A WOMAN
CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.
17 3/8 in. (44.2 cm.) high

Provenance

Louis de Clercq (1836-1901), Paris.
Nicolas Koutoulakis (1910-1996), Paris and Geneva; thence by descent to the present owner.

Literature

A. de Ridder, Collection de Clercq, Catalogue Tome V: Les Antiquités Chypriotes, Paris, 1908, p. 62, no. 19, pl. VI.

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer Price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the Buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Beginning in the sixth century B.C., depictions of female votaries appear in Cypriot art. There are several iconographic types, all related to ritual activities associated with the cult of a fertility deity: priestesses with hieratic garments, frequently holding symbols of fertility, such as birds, flowers or fruits; worshippers with uplifted arms; musicians and ceremonial dancers.
This veiled bust, uncarved below the waist, suggesting it was made for insertion into another sculpture or object, is shown holding a fruit in her right hand. These veiled, draped female figures are known as the "Herculaneum Maiden" type, which take their name from a statue excavated there. For a similar example, dating later from the 1st Century B.C., see acc. no. 74.51.2456 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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