Terracotta figurines are the most common sculpture types found in Greek art, including across Hellenistic sites. They vary from simple crude figures to finely rendered creations. Although present in a variety of different circumstances, a common usage was as a votive offering in funerary and sanctuary contexts. Terracotta figures were cheap to make and easily replicable, making them well suited for this purpose. They were designed for use across all social strata, and provide insight into the everyday lives of Greeks. Statuettes of young females were exceptionally popular during both the Classical and Hellenistic periods.
Tanagra figures, so called from the archaeological site from which a great number of them were found, are distinct in style. Polychromatic and defined, they depict young or fashionable women, wrapped in thin himations, such as with this piece here. Tanagra figures, due to their popularity, were then copied and spread across the wider Greek Empire. In contrast with earlier terracotta statuettes, which were produced for religious purposes or as souvenirs from the theatre, Tanagra terracotta figurines depicted mortal people, mainly women and children, in everyday situations and activities.
Statuettes like this were generally made with single or bivalve, concave moulds that were in turn made from a clay or wax model. All Greek sculptural production was originally polychrome, although there are few examples in modern times in their original condition with the polychrome intact.
To discover more about how terracotta statuettes were made, please visit our relevant post: The Making of Terracotta Statuettes in Antiquity.
