COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
AIC_.1920.259
AMICA Library Year:
1998
Object Type:
Sculpture
Creator Name:
Unknown
Creator Nationality:
African; North African; Egyptian
Creator Dates/Places:
Ancient Egypt Africa,North Africa,Egypt
Creator Name-CRT:
Egyptian
Title:
Relief Plaque Showing a Queen or Goddess
Title Type:
preferred
View:
full view
Creation Date:
Ptolemaic Period, 2nd/1st century B.C.
Creation Start Date:
-332
Creation End Date:
-30
Materials and Techniques:
Limestone, traces of pigment
Subject Description:
The woman portrayed on this limestone plaque wears a headdess in the form of a vulture, its wings protectively spread along her head. Bead spacers decorate her elaborate coiffeur, and the ends of her curls are accentuated by tiny drill holes. Rows of lotus flowers, marguerites, and papyrus flowers suspended from a band of round beads compose her broad collar. The basic features of this work-the woman's general appearance, her headdress, and her jewelry-fit well into a tradition of Egyptian art that spans more than a thousand years. Certain features of this composition, however, are characteristic of the Ptolemaic (Greek) Period in Egypt: specially the fleshiness of the cheek, chin, and neck; the small almond-shaped eye and the extended eyebrow line; theshort rounded nose; and the drilled detail of the wig. As goddesses, queens, and certain types of priestesses wore the vulture cap headdress, it is impossible to identify the status of the woman depicted. Artists of the mid- and late Ptolemaic Period (second to first centuries B.C.) employed a curious artistic convention, evident here, of omitting the broad collar on what we take to be the rear shoulder. This omission probably indicates that that area was considered to be a part of the arm and shoulder, rather than the region of the neck and chest.
Creation Place:
Africa,North Africa,Egypt
Dimensions:
H: 21.1 cm (8-5/16 in.); W: 19.6 cm (7-3/4 in.); D.: 2.1 cm (15/16 in.)
AMICA Contributor:
The Art Institute of Chicago
Owner Location:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
ID Number:
1920.259
Credit Line:
The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Purchase Fund
Context:
Artists of the mid- and late Ptolemaic Period (second to first centuries B>C.) employed a curious artistic convention, evident here, of omitting the broad collar on what we take to be the rear shoulder. This omission probably indicated that that area was considered to be a part of the arm and shoulder, rather than the region of the neck and chest.
Related Image Identifier Link:
AIC_.E28465.TIF
