Vivid colors once heightened the realistic rendering of a woman, hunched with age, carrying a basket with fruit and two chickens. Scientific investigations have identified red ocher on a sandal strap; madder lake pink, a dye derived from the madder root, on the front of the dress (chiton); and Egyptian blue on areas of the veil, the outer garment (himation), and in the void between the figure’s left leg and the basket. The sculpture is likely a copy or an adaptation of an original Hellenistic Greek type associated with the god Dionysos and was probably displayed in a Roman villa or garden.
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Visible-induced infrared luminescent image stacked on visible-light image, showing Egyptian blue on drapery and in the space near the basket
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence image, showing madder lake pigment (pink)
Artwork Details
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Title:Marble statue of an old woman
Period:Early Imperial, Julio-Claudian
Date:14–68 CE
Culture:Roman
Medium:Marble, Pentelic
Dimensions:H. 49 5/8 in. (125.98 cm)
Classification:Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1909
Accession Number:09.39
September 1907, found in Rome, on land belonging to the Congregazione degli Operai della Divina Pietà (Robinson 1909, p. 206).
1907, found on property belonging to the Congregazione degli Opera della Divina Pietà, Rome; after 1907, purchased by A. and A. Jandolo from the Congregazione; [until March 1909, with A. and A. Jandolo, Rome]; acquired in March 1909, purchased from A. and A. Jandolo, Rome.
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Robinson, Edward. 1909. "The Old Market Woman." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 4(11): pp. 201, 204–6.
Reinach, Salomon. 1916. "Quatre mille statues antiques." Répertoire de la Statuaire Greque et Romaine, Vol. 4. no. 7, p. 349, Paris: E. Leroux.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1917. Handbook of the Classical Collection. p. 235, fig. 144, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1927. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 276–77, fig. 196, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 276–77, fig. 196, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1932. Brunn-Bruckmnann's Denkmäler griechischer und römischer Sculptur, Paul Arndt and Adolf Fürtwangler, eds. pl. 730, Munich: F. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich.
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Richter, Gisela M. A. 1950. The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, 3rd edn. pp. 82, 420, fig. 219, New Haven: Yale University Press.
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Vermeule, Cornelius Clarkson. 1980. Greek Art: Socrates to Sulla, from the Peloponnesian Wars to the Rise of Julius Ceasar. no. 121, p. 91, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Laubscher, Hans Peter. 1982. Fischer und Landleute : Studien zur hellenistischen Genreplastik. pp. 8, 10, 32ff., 43, 86, 93ff., 116 n. 38, 121, pls. 26, 2, and 27, 1, 2, Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
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Wrede, Henning. 1991. "Matronen im Kult des Dionysos: Zur hellenistischen 'Genreplastik'." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung, 98: pp. 174 n. 72, 176–7, pl. 43, 1, 2.
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Howard Kathleen. 1994. Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide: Works of Art Selected by Philippe De Montebello. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Abramitis, Dorothy H. 1997. "Statue of an Old Woman: A Case Study in the Effects of Restorations on the Visual Aspect of Sculpture." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 55(3): pp. 30–31, 33–37, figs. 1–3, 5–7.
Bober, Phyllis Pray. 1999. Art, Culture, and Cuisine: Ancient and Medieval Gastronomy. p. 140, fig. 79, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2020. ART = Discovering Infinite Connections in Art History. pp. 048, 272, New York: Phaidon Press.
Skovmøller, Amalie. 2020. Facing the colours of Roman portraiture: Exploring the materiality of ancient polychrome forms. pp. 158, 160, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
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