COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
MMA_.09.39
AMICA Library Year:
2000
Object Type:
Sculpture
Creator Nationality:
European; Southern European; Roman
Creator Name-CRT:
Roman
Title:
Statue of an old market woman
Title Type:
Object name
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
1st century A.D.
Creation Start Date:
1
Creation End Date:
99
Materials and Techniques:
Pentelic marble
Classification Term:
Stone Sculpture
Dimensions:
H. 49 5/8 in. (125.98 cm)
AMICA Contributor:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location:
New York, New York, USA
ID Number:
09.39
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1909
Context:
The woman wears a thin elegant dress, thong sandals, and a crown of Dionysiac ivy leaves. She may be dressed for a festival and the birds and basket of fruit she carries might be offerings. Her garment has slipped off her shoulder, a detail often seen in representations of old women that hints at the liberation of the elderly from the restrictions imposed on women of childbearing years. As in many such figures, direct observation of reality lends force to deeper religious implications. The piece may be a copy of an older, Hellenistic model or a creation of the Roman period in a tradition that was still alive. It seems to have been deliberately damaged, probably in the late antiquity, when such a pagan image would have provoked hostility.
Related Image Identifier Link:
MMA_.gr09.39.R.tif
