Mycenaean Terracotta Art Figurines
Crude Clay Forms, Religious Deities, or Elusive Female Figures?
Mycenaean clay figurines of 1500 B.C. are a puzzle to art historians.
Mycenae
Along the southeast shores of the Greek mainland, a number of settlements developed from 1600-1100 B.C. that resembled those of Minoan Crete. Historians now know these people as Mycenaeans. Their artwork is distinctive. Over the faces of their dead they placed masks made of thin sheets of beaten gold or silver. Their drinking cups, jewelry, and weapons are often made of gold and show handiwork of exquisite detail.
They are also known for their production in about the fourteenth century B.C. of intriguing small terracotta statues (about three to eight inches high) of female figures. Archaeologists have uncovered scores of these so-called "female figurines." They seem to represent goddesses since some have been found in sanctuaries, where they were used as votive offerings, or in tombs, where they may have served as protection.
The typical figurine is the standing female figure with a long cone-shaped skirt and a flat body. Often they are adorned with a tall crown-like spreading headdress often associated with goddesses. They may sport a necklace. Their long hair is usually drawn back in a braid or ponytail, with some loose locks over the forehead symbolized by simple painted lines. All of them are hand-made and painted with the brown glaze used at the time for vase-painting.
The figures stand in several repeated poses with hands raised, with hands resting on hips, or with arms folded over their chest.
Crude Forms or Elusive Female Figures?
Art enthusiasts might be tempted to dismiss these images as crude representations of human beings, but there are good reasons to suspect that something else may have been behind the production of these objects. After all, Mycenaean art is not normally known for its crudeness and the artists would have been able enough to produce much more naturalistic objects, judging even by this three-inch contemporary statue made of ivory.
Interestingly, their shapes resemble several Greek letters: a phi-type with a shape that resembles the Greek letter "Phi," the "Tau"-type with folded arms, and the "Psi"-type with raised arms.
The two phi-type figurines depicted here on the Metropolitan Museum of Art site have circular bodies that allow them to resemble the letter "phi" (Φ). They are completely covered with painted wavy lines, as are most of the figurines. According to the Met, perhaps these lines are a representation of drapery.
The "Tau" (T-type) figurine has a basic shape of a column and holds its arms folded over its body. They typically wear a long dress or robe, again with striping perhaps to represent folds in cloth.
The "Psi"-type is depicted with both arms raised to resemble the Greek letter "psi" (ψ). Such figures repeat the similar large headdress or crown, the robe, and the simplistic stripes. The nose is little more than clay pinched between the artist's fingers.
What gods were worshiped in Mycenae is a matter of dispute. Mycenaean religion included Minoan elements but also influences from Asia Minor, as well as deities of Greek origin. So such religious images or entities are extremely hard to interpret. Whatever purpose the figurines served, they are an enigmatic source of intrigue for today's art-lover.
Sources:
Janson, H.W. History of Art. N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974.
Three Female Figures. Southern Europe 2000-1000 B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2006. www.metmuseum.org/toah
