• r2-59-10
    Woman with himation, frontal view. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • r2-59-20
    Woman with himation, right profile view. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Woman with Himation

Date
1st half of 1st C. AD, Roman
Museum
Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, 3943
Museum Inventory No.
3943
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
S59.076
Material
Marble, Stone
Object Type
Sculpture
Sculpture Type
Draped Woman, Human Figure
Site
Sardis
Sector
HoB
Trench
HoB
B-Grid Coordinates
E30 / S90 *99.44
Findspot
HoB (found ca. 0.30 m. underground with Cat. 67 Fig. 182).
Description

The heavily draped woman stands with weight on her l. leg, r. knee forward, r. foot drawn back. The l. hip is thrown out sideways, the shoulders back. Her chiton has five buttons on the r. sleeve. A himation is flung over her l. shoulder, where the edge hangs like a cape; the other end is held under her l. elbow. The heavy cloth, with strong diagonal folds, does not reveal the chiton underneath, but the shape of the breasts is clearly defined. At bottom, the chiton falls in an arch over r. foot, but in deeply carved vertical folds over l. foot. The back, done in simple large folds with flat chisel, is much more simplified than the front.

The head was worked separately and inserted. L. arm was dowelled at elbow by two dowels and was carefully worked to insert into the upper arm. R. arm was set in and held by three dowels above the elbow. There is no dowel hole for fastening the r. foot.

All traces of chisel are carefully removed. Well-smoothed work of the early Empire, probably after the earthquake of A.D. 17.

Condition

Marble.

Head, lower arms, r. foot, and back r. corner of base missing.

Dimensions
H. with base 1.74, without base 1.61; Th. 0.335.
Comments
For parallels, cf. Paribeni, Cirene, 46, no. 75, pl. 61; Rizzo, Prassitele, 102, pl. 154a; also his pl. 131 (l. hand Muse on Mantinea base) and pl. 134a. Original date for this type was 4th C. B.C. (Rizzo, Prassitele, 90). For Hellenistic intermediary, Horn, Gewandstatuen, 24-26, pl. 8:1-2. Lower portion similar also to Artemisia of Halikarnassos (cf. Bieber, Sculpture Hellenistic Age, fig. 249), a favorite model in the early Empire. Cf. Hekler, Romische Gewandstatuen 132, 227, 235 fig. 3, 246 fig. 25. Also F. Poulsen, Country Houses, 53, no. 28.
See Also
Bibliography
Published: BASOR157, 28, fig. 14; Hanfmann, Letters, 59, fig. 38.
Author
NHR