Female figurine on a reed - Naqada II Originally designated reed figurines, the works in this group are more accurately identified as stick figurines, since most have an internal structure made from a whittled,stick around which the figurine was fashoned from mud and organic materials. Less frequently a reed replaces the stick. Features were then painted on the face to create the final image. That the figurines are pointed at the bottom suggests they were intended to be inserted into a base or in the ground so that they would stand upright, like that from Tomb 271 at Naqada (see fig. 30°). Her elaborate coiffure is made from a piece of crumpled linen covered in mud and then carefully shaped into long, full hairstyle. She was given a large pubis, just above which is a row of small oval splotches of black paint encircling her hips like a girdle ( a low-slung decorative belt), possibly the earliest known illustration of this type of jewelry on a figurine. Below the hair are small breasts, but the front of the torso is rather probably poorly preserved, so it is difficult to discuss much else. It appears that there might once have been necklaces, and two crossed straps in black are painted clearly across her back. Medium: Wood, sandy mud (?), organic material, paint, linen Linen Sand - Dimensions: H. 18.7 x W. 2.9 x D. 2.4 cm MMA (10.130.2583) / Credit Line: Gift of Helen Miller Gould, 1910 Formerly in the collection of the Reverend Chauncey Murch (died 1907). Collected between 1883 and 1906 while Murch was a missionary in Egypt. Collection purchased by the Museum from the Murch family with funds provided by Helen Miller Gould, 1910. Source: Dawn of Egyptian Art by Diana Craig Patch, Marianne Eaton-Krauss, Susan J. Allen pag. 118 photo: Museum
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 13:07:52 +0000