Figurine of a seated woman

Title

Figurine of a seated woman
Associated place

Chagar Bazar (T.545, level 8 in area M) (place of excavation)
Date

8500 BC - 3000 BC
Tell Halaf Period (6000 - 5000 BC)
Material and technique

terracotta, hand-modelled and with yellowish-cream slip
Object type

figurine
Dimensions

10 cm (height)
5 cm (width)
No. of items

1
Credit line

Allocated by the Trustees of the British Museum and the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 1936.
Museum location

not on display
Museum department

Antiquities
Accession no.

AN1936.90

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Catalogue text

Handmodelled; buff fabric, yellowish-cream slip; baked; the head is pinched to make a prominent nose; the top of the head is a flat triangle with the apex at the nose, rising to a vertical projection at the back; the eyes and eyebrows are painted in black, with the shape of the eye stippled in red; no mouth is indicated; the breasts are prominently modelled, cradled by the arms; red and black lines indicate what may be necklaces and ornaments across the breasts and shoulders; the left leg is broken off, whilst the right is drawn up, with knee bent, the foot is entirely stylized as a point and painted overall in red, perhaps representing a shoe; traces of other painted details; one elbow and left thigh darkened by fire.

In: Moorey, P. R. S., Ancient Near Eastern Terracottas (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2005)

slip

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