statue
- Museum number
- 134694
- Description
-
Calcite-alabaster statue of a seated woman with braided hair extending to the small of the back and wearing full length garment; carved from calcite with polished surfaces; hands originally outstretched in an attitude of offering but have since been broken off; pupils created by drill holes; feet broken off; nose reconstructed; lines indicating rolls of fat on the neck.
- Production date
- 1stC-2ndC (?)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 75 centimetres (on stone base)
-
Height: 59.50 centimetres
-
Thickness: 23 centimetres
-
Width: 29.40 centimetres (at shoulder)
- Curator's comments
- Bowers Catalogue entry (unpublished):
Carved statue of a seated female figure with braided hair
Veined calcite-alabaster
1st century - 2nd centuries AD
Height 59.5 cm, width 29.4 cm, thickness 23 cm
ANE 1965-10-11,2 = 134694
Purchased from Professor Robert Bertram Serjeant (1915-1993)
This statue depicts a seated woman with her hair worn in a single long plait down to the small of her back, and wearing a plain full-length garment; the hands were originally outstretched in an attitude of offering but were broken off in antiquity. The pupils were originally inlaid. The lines lightly incised around the figure’s neck were a stylistic convention to indicate a full body, and thus probably synonymous with wealth and security. The care with which this statue was finished at the rear suggests that, unlike the funerary heads, it was intended to have been seen from all directions, and thus may have been set up as a free-standing sculpture rather than being half-concealed within a niche.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2015-2016 Dec-Mar, Seoul Arts Centre, 'Human Image'
2010-2012 Jul-Feb, Sheffield, Weston Park Museum
2005 25 Jun-11 Sept, Washington, Smithsonian (Arthur M Sackler Gallery), 'Caravan Kingdoms: Yemen and the ancient incense trade'
2004-2005 17 Oct-13 Mar, California, Bowers Museum, 'Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality'
2002 5 Jun-13 Oct, BM, 'Queen of Sheba: Treasures from ancient Yemen'
1997-2005 Aug-16 Dec, BM, G51/PSA/3
1976-1997 BM, West Stairs: South Arabian Landing [SAL], north wall
1973 14 Feb-15 Apr, Sheffield City Museum, Weston Park, 'Pre-Islamic Art from South Arabia' (case 4)
B.R. [Babylonian Room], wall-case [WC] 8
- Condition
- Missing inlaid eyes; missing forearms and broken at the elbows; large crack running across the waist but consolidated; cracks around the elbows; nose restored
- Acquisition date
- 1965
- Acquisition notes
- Shipped on the SS Kenya, deposited in Brian Doe's name on 12 July 1965 (Deposit-book entry 1897 bis) and acknowledged in letter to Doe from Barnett (dated 15 July 1965) who asks if "you can tell me something about the lady? She does not appear to have been mentioned previously in our correspondence"; Serjeant's name correctly given in the Report to the Trustees, July 1966, but mis-spelt as "R.B. Sargent" in the register.
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 134694
- Registration number
- 1965,1011.2
