‘Tanagra’ type figurine

Towards the end of the 4th c. BC, artists start showing increasing interest in the female figure. By contrast to earlier centuries, when female forms were shown in rigid positions and with austere expressions, now artists try to render bodily movements, details of the dress, hairstyle and ornamentation, and a sense of their emotions.

The new tendency is perfectly manifested in the so-called ‘Tanagra’ figurines. The earliest examples were discovered in the area of Tanagra, in Boeotia, but today we know that they were produced all over the Hellenistic world. They were made with a double mould and represent females in standing, seating or dancing positions. The illustrated example shows a seated woman, perhaps a Muse, preparing to play the lyre. She wears a thin chiton and an himation, whose folding recall statuary types of the period. The hair, rendered in red colour, are tied in back with a wide pink-coloured cord decorated with blue flowers. The expressive face is covered with white slip. The artist makes an effort to render the emotional state of the figure – a tendency also seen in Hellenistic sculpture.

‘Tanagra’ figurines reflect the refinement of Hellenistic art, while at the same time suggesting an improved social position for women.

PUBLICATION
Vlassopoulou Ch. 2006. Cat. no. 67, in Choremi-Spetsieri Α. – Zarkadas Α. (eds), The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum. Ancient Art, Athens, 106.