Tanagra female figurine; Magna Graecia, 2nd–1st centuries B.C.

Tanagra female figurine; Magna Graecia, 2nd–1st centuries B.C.
Polychrome terracotta.
Measurements: 24.5 x 9 x 7 cm.
The female figure is dressed in a chiton and a himation, as was customary among the upper class, and her head is adorned with a floral headdress. Tanagra, also known as Tanagraois, was a city in Boeotia, near the border with Attica, in a region called Pemandride, which produced the finest wine in Boeotia. Perched on a hilltop, with its temples set apart from the houses, it boasted a significant necropolis. Among the most notable finds are human figures made of terracotta and called “Tanagra figurines,” which were popular in the ancient Greek world from the late 4th century B.C. to the late 3rd century B.C. They were found primarily in Hellenistic tombs, but also in temples, and discovered in large quantities beginning around the last third of the 19th century. They formed part of the grave goods and generally belonged to the Attic school of sculpture, which was heavily influenced by the school of Praxiteles (as seen in this example by the curve formed by the figure at the hips—an “invention” of this sculptor and known for that reason as the “Praxitelean curve”)—with faces bearing a gentle expression and a certain languid air, and likely produced in Athenian workshops in many cases. Similar discoveries have been made in Myrina (modern-day Turkey), Cyrene (Italy), and Alexandria (Egypt).