Mycenaean Terracotta Female Figures (MET)

These Mycenaean figurines date back to about 1400 BC from Mycenaean Greece. Made of terracotta, they were found in tombs, children’s graves, shrines and across settlement areas. These terracotta female figures of ‘Phi’ and ‘Psi’ type derive the names from their shape and a resemblance to the Greek letters of psi (ψ) and phi (Φ). The Psi (ψ) figures hold their arms up high in some form of supplication. The phi (Φ) figures hold their hands in front of their body as representative figures to be honored. These Mycenaean terracotta female figures are modeled with breasts, facial features, and they wear painted enveloping garments.

The functions of these figurines are not precise. It has been suggested that their purpose changed with the context in which they were found. Suggested uses include votive figurines, grave offerings and figures of Goddess or Priestess for shrines. Mycenaean figurines like these have been discovered together with Mycenaean pottery, and they seem to have played a significant role in the history of Mycenaean culture and religion. Over five hundred figurines have been excavated from ancient sites such as cemeteries, settlements, and shrines.

Mycenaean Religion

Written Mycenaean records mention various priests and priestesses who were responsible for shrines and temples. Priestesses were prominent figures in society, and the role of Mycenaean women in religious festivities was also important. A universal Mycenaean religion is reflected in archaeological evidence with the Mycenaean Terracotta Female Figures that have been found all over Late Bronze Age Greece.

Mycenaean Greece

Mycenaean Greece was dominant in the last phase of the Bronze Age (1600 – 1100 BC.) in Greece and represents the first advanced civilization in mainland Greece, with its palatial states, urban organization, works of art and writing system. The most prominent site was Mycenae, after which the culture of this era is named. Mycenaean Greece was dominated by an elite warrior society and consisted of a network of palace states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social, and economic systems.

Mycenaean Terracotta Female Figures

• Title: Mycenaean Terracotta Female Figures
• Date: ca. 1400–1200 B.C.
• Culture: Late Helladic
• Culture: Mycenaean
• Geography: Greece
• Medium: Terracotta
• Dimensions: H: 4 1/4 – 4 1/8 in (10.8 – 10.5 cm)
• Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET, New York, USA

A Tour of MET European Paintings Collection

• “Pygmalion and Galatea” by Jean-Léon
• “Saint Jerome as Scholar” by El Greco
• “Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez
• “Camille Monet on a Garden Bench” by Claude Monet
• “View of Toledo” by El Greco
• “The Musicians” by Caravaggio
• “The Death of Socrates” by Jacques-Louis David
• “The Harvesters” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
• “Young Woman Drawing” by Marie-Denise Villers
• “The Grand Canal, Venice” by J. M. W. Turner
• “The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog)” by Claude Monet
• “Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress” by Paul Cézanne
• “The Fortune Teller” by Georges de La Tour
• “The Allegory of Faith” by Johannes Vermeer
• “Garden at Sainte-Adresse” by Claude Monet
• “Wheat Field with Cypresses” by Vincent van Gogh
• “The Repast of the Lion” by Henri Rousseau
• “The Horse Fair” by Rosa Bonheur
• “Two Men Contemplating the Moon” by Caspar David Friedrich
• “Boy with a Greyhound” by Paolo Veronese
• “A Windy Day on the Pont des Arts” by Jean Béraud
• “Sunday at the Church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule, Paris” by Jean Béraud
• “The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning” by Camille Pissarro
• “The Sorrow of Telemachus” by Angelica Kauffman

MET Modern and Contemporary Art Collection

• “Reclining Nude” by Amedeo Modigliani
• “Improvisation 27 (Garden of Love II)” by Wassily Kandinsky
• “Jeanne Hébuterne” by Amedeo Modigliani
• “The Card Players” by Paul Cézanne
• “Bathers” by Paul Cézanne

MET Greek and Roman Art Collection

• Statue of a Kouros
• Amathus Sarcophagus
• Mycenaean Terracotta Female Figures

MET Egyptian Art Collection

• The Temple of Dendur
• The Sphinx of Hatshepsut
• William the Faience Hippopotamus

MET Asian Art Collection

• Luohan – Yixian Glazed Ceramic Sculpture
• Pillow with Landscape Scenes – Zhang Family Workshop
• Jar with Dragon
• Fine Wind, Clear Morning by Katsushika Hokusai

MET Ancient Near Eastern Art Collection

• Sumerian Standing Male Worshiper
• Head of a Beardless Royal Attendant – Eunuch
• Human-Headed Winged Bull (Lamassu)

MET American Wing Collection

• “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Emanuel Leutze
• “Portrait of Madame X” by John Singer Sargent
• “Mother and Child” by Mary Cassatt
• “Fur Traders Descending the Missouri” by George Caleb Bingham
• “The Gulf Stream” by Winslow Homer
• “The Parthenon” by Frederic Edwin Church
• “The Aegean Sea” by Frederic Edwin Church
• “Alexander Hamilton” by John Trumbull
• “Lady at the Tea Table” by Mary Cassatt

MET Islamic Art Collection

• Blue Qur’an
• Marble Jar of Zayn al-Din Yahya Al-Ustadar
• The Damascus Room

MET Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Collection

• Benin Ivory Mask
• African Face Mask – Kpeliye’e
• Sican Funerary Mask – Peru
• Ceremonial Axe – Papua New Guinea

MET European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Collection

• “Hercules the Archer” by Antoine Bourdelle
• “Orpheus and Eurydice” by Auguste Rodin
• “Perseus with the Head of Medusa” by Antonio Canova
• “The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer” by Edgar Degas

MET Medieval Art Collection

• “The Last Supper” by Ugolino di Nerio
• Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and Noli Me Tangere
• Doorway from the Church of San Nicolò, San Gemini

MET Drawings and Prints Collection

• Album of Tournaments and Parades in Nuremberg
• “Canvassing for Votes” by William Hogarth
• “Christ and the Woman of Samaria” by Rembrandt
• Fine Wind, Clear Morning by Katsushika Hokusai

MET Costume Institute Collection

• Bodice
• Cardinal Cape
• Doublet

MET Arms and Armor Collection

• Blade and Mounting for a Sword (Katana)
• Double-Barreled Flintlock Shotgun

MET Photograph Collection

• Loie Fuller Dancing
• Sala Delle Statue, Vatican
• Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the War

MET Musical Instrument Collection

• Ming-Dynasty Pipa
• Grand Piano
• Bass Fluegel Horn in B-flat

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“Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way, and nothing stays fixed.”
– Heraclitus

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Photo Credit: 1) By Wikipedia Loves Art participant “Futons_of_Rock” [CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

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2 November 2018, 12:33 | Views: 4869