Faculty of Classics - University of Cambridge

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Ionic Kore from the Acropolis

Despite being set up in the heart of Athens, this figure shows a character slightly different to the Attic (from Attica, around Athens) style. The physique is slender and elongated, the face oval, and her garments are light; Attic korai tend to be stockier. This style is associated with the islands of the eastern Aegean sea, Chios in particular. It seems to have been common for sixth-century BCE artists to move all over the Greek world executing commissions.

Her clothing is unusual in that she seems to wear just one long garment, a chiton. The result is a loose, wavy-patterned top part pinned on the arms, with a lower half pulled tight over her legs and held in a bunch at the front. It has been argued that these are two separate garments, but it is more likely that a long overhanging fold conceals a belt at the waist. On the original sculpture this chiton was lavishly painted in red and green, with stars and meander patterns

Material: 
Marble
Location of Original: 

Athens Acropolis Museum 670

Size: 
1.15m
References: 

Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 78 (n.1), pl. 23.3
Schrader: Archaischen Marmorbildwerke des Akropolis (1939), 50-
Payne & Young: Archaic Marble Sculpture from the Acropolis, 35-
Dickins: Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum I, 205-
Stewart: Greek Sculpture, 123 & 124, pl. 153
Karakasi: Archaic Korai (2003), 118

Date: 
520-510 BCE
Provenance: 

From the Acropolis, Athens

Number: 
41

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