The statuette is handmade and solid and has a shaved surface. She is holding an infant in her left arm.
This figurine is typical of Cypriot coroplastic art of the Late Cypriot II and III periods. The type, with the pubic triangle accentuated and the breasts clearly shown, is likely of Syrian origin, but Cypriot sculptors created their own variations.
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Title:Terracotta statuette of woman with bird face
Period:Late Cypriot II
Date:ca. 1450–1200 BCE
Culture:Cypriot
Medium:Terracotta; hand-made
Dimensions:H. 5 3/16 in. (13.21 cm)
Classification:Terracottas
Credit Line:The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
Accession Number:74.51.1545
Said to be from Nicosia-Ayia Paraskevi
Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1894. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 2. pl. II.9, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1895. The Terracottas and Pottery of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in Halls 4 and 15. no. 59, p. 6, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 2013, p. 335, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Karageorghis, Jacqueline. 1977. La grande déesse de Chypre et son culte à travers l'iconographie de l'époque néolithique au VIème s.a.C.. p. 74, Lyon: Maison de l'Orient.
Orphanides, Andreas G. 1983. ""Bronze Age Anthropomorphic Figurines in the Cesnola Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Master's Diss.." Master's Diss. no. 12, pp. 14–15, pl. XII.
Karageorghis, Vassos. 1993. The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus, Vol. 2. no. A(v)7, p. 9, pl. VI.10, Nicosia: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 12, pp. 24–25, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lightfoot, Christopher S. 2000. "The New Cypriot Galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Minerva, 11(3): pp. 21–23, fig. 17.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 266, pp. 229, 458, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Gloria Merker, and Joan R. Mertens. 2016. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Terracottas. no. 12, pp. 22, 252, Online Publication, [CD-Rom 2004], New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bombardieri, Luca and Elisa Panero. 2021. Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilizations : exhibition catalog p.139, fig. 5, London: DeArtcom.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
