Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'
Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva' Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva' Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva' Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva' Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva' Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva' Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva' Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'

Greek Pottery Terracotta Head 'Testa Votiva'

17512

$1,250.00
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Produced in a Greek or Etruscan or closely related Etrusco-Italic workshop in the 4th–3rd century BC, during the high-point of the Italic votive-head tradition that flourished from the early 4th through the late 2nd century BC.

The head is modeled in the round on the front with a softly idealized late Classical facial type, a gently oval face, high forehead, straight nose in profile, almond-shaped eyes set beneath smoothly arched brows, full cheeks, and a small, composed mouth that preserves the faint upturn descended from the archaic smile and still favored by Italic coroplasts well into the Hellenistic period. 

The underside is left open and hollow, a vent hole characteristic of testa votiva production: the heads were mold-formed in halves, joined, and fired to prevent explosion in the kiln and to reduce the weight of pieces that would be stacked and deposited in sanctuary votive pits (stipi votive) in Etruria, Latium, and sanctuary precincts of central Italy.

In Etruscan and Italic religion these terracotta heads functioned as stylized portraits of the devotee, offered to a deity in fulfillment of a vow or in petition for a favor,  health, safe travel, fertility, success, and periodically cleared from shrines and buried en masse, which is why they survive today in such numbers and in comparably fine condition.

The fabric is a well-levigated oxidized orange-red Italic clay with grey firing cloud on the right temple and crown, and retains the pale cream root-marks and mineral encrustations expected of excavated material; the paint/slip originally applied to flesh and hair has weathered away, as is standard for the type. Structurally the head is intact to the neck break at its original join point

Size: 4-5/8 inches high; 5-1/2 on custom mount.

Compare similar examples in Ines Jucker, Italy of the Etruscans, Jerusalem, 1991, 
Ex Private New Jersey Collection.

All pieces are unconditionally guaranteed authentic and as described in perpetuity and have been legally acquired and imported in full accordance with U.S. and applicable foreign regulations regarding the movement and sale of antiquities.

A signed guarantee of authenticity with a description and photograph of the item(s) accompanies this object.

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