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Hellenistic Terracotta Figures of Cyrenaica: Greek Influences and Local Inspirations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

L. M. Burn
L. M. Burn*
Affiliation:
The British Museum, London
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Extract

Terracotta figures have been uncovered in vast quantities in the cemeteries of the Greek cities of Cyrenaica from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. While the terracottas from more recent excavations have of course remained in Libya, the majority of those brought to light in the nineteenth century are now divided between the national museums of three European capitals: Paris, Madrid and London. The Louvre collection is the largest of the three, consisting of some 400 pieces, mostly acquired by the consul M. Vattier de Bourville in the cemeteries of Cyrene and Benghazi in 1848; the majority are of the Hellenistic period, and have recently received full publication in the final volume of Mme Simone Besques' monumental catalogue. The Cyrenaican terracottas in Madrid, purchased from the collection of one Tómas Asensi in 1876, are about ninety in number, and of these roughly half are Hellenistic in date; the few given a provenance are said to come from the cemeteries of Cyrene. The Madrid terracottas were published by Alfred Laumonier in 1921, and the descriptions and photographs in his catalogue are still useful.

The British Museum has around 300 terracotta figures from Cyrenaica, of which approximately 180 whole figures or fragments can be counted as Hellenistic. The archaic and classical figures were published by Dr Reynold Higgins in the first volume of his catalogue of British Museum terracottas, while a significant proportion of the later pieces were included by H. B. Walters in his earlier catalogue. However, the entire collection of post-classical Cyrenaican material will be treated in greater detail in the new catalogue of the British Museum's Hellenistic terracottas, currently in preparation.

Type
Greek and Hellenistic Periods
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 25 , January 1994 , pp. 147 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1994

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References

Notes

1. Besques, S., Catalogue Raisonné des figurines et reliefs en terre-cuite grecs, étrusques et romains IV–II: Epoques hellénistique et romaine: Cyrénaique, Egypte ptolemaique et romaine, Afrique du nord et procheorient (Paris 1992) (henceforward Besques, IV–II)Google Scholar.

2. Laumonier, A., Catalogue des terres cuites du Musée Archéologique de Madrid (Bordeaux and Paris 1921) 83–106, pls XXVII–XLVGoogle Scholar.

3. Higgins, R. A., Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum I (London 1954) 378–403, nos 1411–1541, pls 195–207Google Scholar.

4. Walters, H. B., Catalogue of the Terracottas in the British Museum (London 1903) 128–130 (Archaic), 266–289 (Classical and Hellenistic)Google Scholar.

5. R. A. Higgins and L. M. Burn, Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum III, in preparation.

6. Registration sequence GR 1856.10–1.1–140.

7. Registration sequence GR 186 3.1–14.1–41.

8. For George Dennis, see Rhodes, D. E., Dennis of Etruria (London 1973)Google Scholar; transcripts of his letters and reports, made by D. M. Bailey and J. Thorn, are available in the British Museum's Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

9. Pensabene, P., ‘Statuine fittili votive dalla Chora Cirenea’, QuadALibya 12 (1987) 93–169Google Scholar.

10. Bonanno, A. in Lloyd, J. A. (ed.), Excavations at Sidi-Khrebish Benghazi (Berenice) vol. ii (Tripoli 1983) 65–90Google Scholar. Also of interest for a rare instance of Hellenistic terracottas found in a proper context is the report by Dent, J. and others, ‘Some Hellenistic and early Roman tombs from Benghazi’, Libya Antiqua 12–14 (1976–1977) 131–212Google Scholar: terracottas are discussed on pages 190–196, with two fine Hellenistic statuettes (nos 141 and 142) illustrated on pl. LVIa.

11. The definitive work on Tanagra figures is Higgins, R. A.' Tanagra and the Figurines (London 1987)Google Scholar. For a brief and authoritative survey see also Uhlenbrock, J. P., ‘The Hellenistic terracottas of Athens and the Tanagra style’, in Uhlenbrock, J. P. (ed.), The Coroplast's Art (New York 1990) 48–53Google Scholar.

12. Laumonier (n.2), 83.

13. Higgins (n.3), 378.

14. Besques, IV–II, 20.

15. Published by Bell, M., Morgantina Studies I, The Terracottas. Results of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Sicily (Princeton 1980)Google Scholar. Specific comparisons will appear in the forthcoming British Museum Catalogue (see n.5): this is one of the very few areas in which I would venture to dispute the opinion of Mme Besques (Besques, IV–II, 21): ‘a l'époque hellénistique l'influence sicilienne a complêtement disparu: en fait cette influence constituait un fait purement ponctuel de la fin du Vè siècle et du début du IVè siècle, lié à un phénomène cultuel…’.

16. For the latest views on the Baker Dancer (New York 1972.118.95), with full bibliography, see Kozloff, A. P. and Mitten, D. G., The Gods' Delight (Cleveland 1988) 102–106Google Scholar.

17. For examples of these see Higgins (n.3), pls 127–128, nos 881, 882, 884, 886.

18. In the discussion following this paper, M. Vickers drew attention to the resemblance in shape between these cylindrical bases and ivory tusks; commenting in addition on the well-preserved white slip in which many of the figures are coated, he suggested the possibility that the terracottas were intended to imitate ivory figurines. It is generally accepted that terracotta figurines were cheap alternatives to those made in more expensive materials, including ivory. The use of white, however, is a well-established convention in many different media for the representation of female flesh. Were the shape of these bases specifically related to tusks, moreover, one might expect to find it more often in terracotta, particularly among the products of those areas with good access to supplies of ivory.

19. For Cyrenaican and south Italian examples of boys on dogs, see Besques, IV–II, pl. 34e-f, and ead., Musée du Louvre, Catalogue Raisonné des figurines et reliefs en terre-cuite grecs, étrusques et romains vol. IV–I (Paris 1986) (henceforward Besques, IV–I), pl. 58d, eGoogle Scholar; cf. British Museum GR 1868.7–5.33 (Cyrenaican), 1814.7–4.838 (south Italian). For Erotes on birds (geese or swans), see Besques, IV–II, pl. 8d, and Besques, IV–I, pl. 13a–e.

20. For the gilded terracotta jewellery of Cyrenaica, see Besques, IV–II, pls 47–52; also Marshall, F. H., Catalogue of the Greek, Etruscan and Roman Jewellery in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum (London 1911) 243–249Google Scholar, and Kriseleit, I., Forsch. u. Bericht. 18 (1977) 13–20, pls 3–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For south Italian examples, see Besques, IV–I, pls 95–96.

21. Cyrenaican Baubo figure: GR 1856.10–1.53, Egyptian: GR 1926.9–30.62.

22. Other Cyrenaican examples of this type are in the Louvre (Besques, IV–II, pl. 41a, D 4395) and from Rowe's excavations at Cyrene (information from J. Thorn).

23. The British Museum examples are GR 1856.10–1.34, 1867.5–12.1, 1867.5–12.21, 1863.1–14.21a, 1868.7–5.1; for those in the Louvre, see Besques, IV–II, pl. 10a, b (D 4216 and D 4217); D. M. Bailey has drawn my attention to another example in Marseilles (unknown reference number).

24. See e.g. Higgins (n.3), pls 151, 152, nos 1099, 1102, 1109, 1111 (Sicilian); pl. 201, nos 1471, 1473 (Cyrenaican).

25. Blinkenberg, C., ‘L'Image d'Athana Lindia’, Kgl.Dansk Videnskabernes Selskab: Hist.-Filologiske Meddelelser 1:2 (1917)33 and passimGoogle Scholar.

26. Zuntz, G., Persephone. Three essays on Religion and Thought in Magna Graecia (Oxford 1971) 114–141Google Scholar.

27. Bell (n.15), 14–15; see also (for Persephone in southern Italy) 100–103.

28. Besques, IV–II, 34–35 (in reference to pl. 10a and b).

29. For a brief summary of what is known of the cult of Demeter and Persephone at Cyrene, see White, D., The Extramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone at Cyrene, Libya, Final Reports I (Philadelphia 1984) 20–30Google Scholar: it should, however, be noted, that so far at least no examples of ‘pectoral plaque’ goddesses have been excavated here. On the subject of Demeter and Persephone in Cyrenaica, see E. Fabbricotti's discussion of their appearance on Hellenistic reliefs found in Cyrenaica. QuadALibya 12 (1987) 233ffGoogle Scholar, with further references.

30. Louvre D 4217, Besques, IV–II, pl. 10b.

31. For such figures from the excavations of a Demeter sanctuary on Lesbos, see C., and Williams, H., ‘Excavations at Mytilene (Lesbos), 1986’ Echos du Monde Classique/Classical Views XXXI, n.s.6 (1987) 247–262Google Scholar: the type with right hand raised is illustrated on pl. 8; for one excavated in the Sanctuary of Underworld Deities at Cnidus, British Museum GR 1859.12–26.154, see JHS 71 (1951) pl. IXdGoogle Scholar; for similar figures, but with raised right hands from the Demeter sanctuary at Troy, see Thompson, D. B., Troy, the Terracotta Figures of the Hellenistic period (Princeton 1963) pls XXI–XXIIGoogle Scholar (actually identified as worshippers rather than goddesses by Mrs Thompson).

32. Besques, IV–II, 34 (in discussing D 4216). For the unknown goddesses see Beschi, L., ASAtene 47-8 (1969–1970) 133–340Google Scholar.

33. See Bonanno (n.10), pl. X, terracotta F 50.

34. Besques, IV–II, pl. 12b–e.

35. A comparable example in Frankfurt is published by Bol, P. and Kotera, E. in Liebighaus-Museum Alter Plastik, Antike Bildwerke Band III, Bildwerke aus Terrakotta (Melsungen 1986) 118–120, no. 60Google Scholar; cf. also Robinson, D. M., Excavations at Olynthus Part IV, (Baltimore etc. 1931) pl. 37, no. 358Google Scholar.

36. Cf. Winter, F., Die antiken Terrakotten III ii (Berlin 1903) 162:5Google Scholar.

37. On this subject, see Sguaitamatti, M., L'Offrande de Porcelet dans la Coroplathie Geléenne (Mainz 1984)Google Scholar.

38. The first was presented by the Reverend Greville Chester; the place-name Tyre, inked on its back, may indicate its place of origin or purchase. The reported provenance of the second comes from a letter written by Mr Cameron, preserved in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

39. Besques, IV–II, pl. 39b–g; Pensabene (n.9), 163, no. 80.

40. Heuzey, L., Les figurines antiques du Musée du Louvre (Paris 1883) text to pl. 56Google Scholar.

41. Possibly comparable parodies of school scenes are found among Romano-Egyptian terracottas; D. M. Bailey has drawn my attention to a group showing a mule dressed as a teacher, surrounded by small pupils, formerly in the Tyskiewicz collection, illustrated RM 1890, pl. I.

42. For the development of the melon coiffure, see Thompson, D. B., Troy, The Terracotta Figurines of the Hellenistic Period (Princeton 1963) 38–39Google Scholar; the general progression seems to be from fewer, larger waves towards multiple shallow waves.

43. For earrings of this type see Pfrommer, M., Untersuchungen zur Chronologie Früh und Hochhellenistischen Goldschmucks (Tübingen 1990) pl. 30Google Scholar.

44. For coin portraits of Berenike II (246–221 BC), see Kyrieleis, H., Bildnisse der Ptolemäer (Berlin 1973) pl. 82Google Scholar. As Mr Abdulhamid Abdussaid pointed out in the discussion after this paper, the terracotta head bears a general resemblance to a small marble head in the museum at Cyrene which used to be identified as a portrait of Berenike II. This head, however, (conveniently illustrated by Rosenbaum, E. in Cyrenaican Portrait Sculpture (London 1960) pl. 8, 3–4)Google Scholar is, in comparison with the terracotta example, extremely sharp, even hard, in its finish: it also appears to portray a far more mature individual. Recent opinion seems to agree in assigning it to the Roman period, whether the first century BC (Rosenbaum), or even as late as the Antonine period (Laronde, A., Cyrène et la Libye Hellénistique (Paris 1987) 407–8-Google Scholar ‘La tête laisse une impression d'elégance raffiné et de froideur distante…’).