Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

Standing Kore

Artist/Maker Artist Unknown (Artist Unknown)

Dateca. 525-500 BCE

Mediumpottery

DimensionsOverall: 14 1/8 x 4 3/8 x 4 1/8 in. (35.9 x 11.1 x 10.5 cm)

ClassificationsVisual Works

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Terms

Object number89.0033

On View

On view

Collections

Art of the Ancient Mediterranean

DescriptionThis figurine is an excellently preserved example of a common object in ancient Greek culture. Made of fired clay, the image of a kore, or girl, would have been purchased by simple people who could not afford an expensive gift to offer to their goddess. Because the mold was reusable, the figurine was inexpensive. A worshipper would have carried the figure to the sanctuary of a deity and deposited it, most probably on a table, before the cult statue. As a votive gift, this figure could never leave the sacred grounds (the temenos), which, it was believed, belonged to the god or goddess. The pious believer either hoped for something in return through prayer or gave the object in thanksgiving for a benefit already received. The design represents a small copy of a much larger, white marble original such as those placed on the grounds outside the temple by wealthy individuals and families. Over two hundred of these marble figures are known from the 6th century BCE. The clay kore represents the art of the people, "the masses" of the time. The Ionian, or eastern Greek, aesthetic is to maximize surface beauty, as is readily evident here in the headdress, the braided hair, the smile, and the elaborate drapery. The object held in the figure's right hand, the honorable hand, is probably meant to be a pomegranate, a gift within a gift, timelessly offered by the statuette. Animals as well as fruit were common gifts. The figure is not a portrait but an imagined, ideally beautiful Greek creation, a perfection rather than a reality.