Greek terra-cotta statuettes : their origin, evolution, and uses / By Marcus B. Huish.

  • Marcus Bourne Huish
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Greek terra-cotta statuettes : their origin, evolution, and uses / By Marcus B. Huish. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    in this statuette signs of a decadence which may be due to* Persian influence. Many similar terra-cottas have been found as far east as Susa, where there was a temple to the goddess Anatrata, a type resembling in some respects Venus, in others Artemis. The figure would appear to be affected by the Egyptian type, an example of which we have given in Plate VI. A survey of the terra-cottas which have been found in Babylon, Chaldea, and Susiana shows how dominant was the representa- tion of a prototype of a nude Aphrodite. It existed long anterior to the epoch when Praxiteles dared, for the first time, to model an undraped Aphrodite. The British Museum contains a large female statue found in the Palace at Nineveh, which must be earlier than 600 U.C., and may be as old as the eleventh century B.C. Goddess nurses, either feeding their children or distributing their milk at random, and goddesses represented in the plentitudc of generative power, are also common, and are in harmony with what is known of the ancient religion of these countries. M. Heuzcy classes these under the head of Chaldco-Babylonian,. and considers that their existence has a most important bearing upon the history of terra-cottas. 'Phe long duration of the Babylonian kingdom, extending centuries after that of Assyria,, renders it difficult to assign an exact date to them, but they represent an Art which is clearly Babylonian, and foreign to all western influence. They have nothing in common with Assyria, but something with Egypt, which is not surprising, seeing that Babylon occupied, geographically, an intermediate place between, these two empires. It is evident that this class of figures exercised a considerable influence, and that at a very early date, over Asia, the isles of