This graceful ceramic sculpture is a votive figure from the middle of the first millennium BC, and represents a Phoenician deity. It depicts a goddess standing on an integral base, dressed in a robe that extends cowl-like from the apex of her head down to the floor. Much of the other drapery detail has been eroded by the piece’s long immersion in the Mediterranean, as have the small details of the face, but while the smaller points have been eroded, the confident, clean lines of the piece more than compensate for their loss. As is usual with sculptures of this sort, she has her right hand raised in benediction; her left arm is cradling an eminence that was probably originally a child. While the precise significance of this is unknown, the maternity/fertility associations are clear (see below). The general rendering is diagnostically Pre-Classical – rather austere and linear composition – and reflects the archaic style of Greek sculpture that the Phoenicians inspired and with which this piece is contemporary. The piece still retains calcareous accretions (which can be removed if required), which attest to its long interment in the Mediterranean. The back of the piece is almost completely plain, implying that it was always meant to be viewed from the front rather than in the round: this is usual for figures designed for shrines.

Antiquities
Ancient Near East