Bird-Faced “Pappas” Holding a Child (Kourotrophe)

Plank figures of this type, with pinched bird-like faces and high “polos” crowns, are strongly abstract in style but securely dated to the Archaic period (6th century BCE) by excavated examples in Boeotia. The figure holds a small, roughly modeled child close to her proper left shoulder, grasped by her unnaturally long right arm. Painted details indicate the eyes and the decoration of the long garments worn by the figures, which all appear to be female. This figure also wears a relatively elaborate necklace, with three pendants, perhaps in the shape of pomegranates. The figures usually have a modeled spiral that emerges from the brow as part of the crown; the meaning behind the spiral and the very stylized facial features is not known. It is also uncertain whether these figures represent mortal women or goddesses.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Charles L. Morley, New York, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1946, by purchase