Antenor Kore

The Antenor Kore is a Late Archaic statue of a girl (Kore) made of Parian marble, which was created around 530/20 BC.

The Antenor Kore
Antenor Kore
Established530/20 BC
LocationAthenian Acropolis

The statue was found in several fragments during excavations on the Athenian Acropolis in the so-called Perserschutt. The lower part and the left arm were dug up east of the Parthenon in 1882 and the upper part was discovered west of the Erechtheion in 1886. Parts of the calf followed. The face is damaged, especially the nose, and the lower right arm is missing, as is the front of the feet on the plinth. The kore was originally located in the Athena sanctuary on the acropolis and is now kept in the Acropolis Museum[1] The statue is 201 cm high, excluding the plinth.

The Kore has chest-length hair, which only partially survives. The hair at the front is gathered into tight curls, while the rest of the hair falls in locks, fanning out over the shoulders and back. She wears a crown in her hair. Like all archaic korai, the sculpture has a clear axis and stares directly at the viewer. She wears a chiton and himation. The latter seems to be tied over the left arm, pinned at the top with a fibula and falling below in omega-folds. With the left hand the image gathers the chiton, causing the characteristic drapery. The conspicuously empty eye-holes must have been inlaid with another material, likely glass - a rather rare feature in marble statues of this period.

Fragments of a Pentelic marble statue base in the form of a capital were found in the Perserschutt in the same excavation as the statue fragments. This base was first connected with the statue by Franz Studniczka,[2] a conclusion which has been largely accepted,[3] though some still doubt.[4] An inscription on the base name the donor Nearchos and the sculptor Antenor son of Eumares. It reads:[5]

The surviving Ancient Greek: ΥΣ at the beginning of the second line is generally restored as Ancient Greek: κεραμεύς and the donor identified with the attested potter Nearchos[6] from the second quarter of the sixth century BC or with an unknown potter of the same name,[7] perhaps a son or uncle of the known Nearchos.[8] It has sometimes been doubted that a simple artesan could be the donor of such a votive statue and alternative restorations of the inscription have been suggested.[9] On the other hand it was quite possible in the 6th century to gain a significant fortune through craftworks and other donations are known from potters and vase painters on the Acropolis.[10]

References
  1. Inventory number 681.
  2. Franz Studniczka, "Antenor der Sohn des Eumares und die Geschichte der archaischen Malerei." Jahrbuch des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Vol. 2, 1887: 135–168, here p. 141.
  3. Sascha Kansteiner, Lauri Lehmann, Bernd Seidensticker, Klaus Stemmer (Ed.). Text und Skulptur. Berühmte Bildhauer und Bronzegiesser der Antike in Wort und Bild. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2009, p. 6.
  4. Ernest Arthur Gardner Journal of Hellenic Studies. Vol. 10, 1889, p. 278; Guy Dickins: Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum. Vol. 1: Archaic sculpture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1912, pp. 228–232; Humfry Payne, Gerard Mackworth Young: Archaic marble sculpture from the Acropolis. Cresset Press, London 1950, p. 31.
  5. Inscriptiones Graecae (IG) I³ 628.
  6. e.g. Bettina Kreuzer, "Nearchos (I)." Künstlerlexikon der Antike. Vol. 2, Saur, München, Leipzig 2004, p. 113–114 (here also viewed as the donor of the statue).
  7. Thus Jeffrey M. Hurwit. The Art and Culture of Early Greece, 1100-480 B.C. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1985, p. 250 considers the restoration of Ancient Greek: κεραμεύς to be correct and the identification of the donor with the known potter possible but unlikely.
  8. Thus John Beazley, Potter and Painter in Ancient Athens. (= Proceedings of the British Academy. Vol. 30.) Cumberledge, Oxford 1944, p. 21; Thomas B. L. Webster: Potter and Patron in Classical Athens. Methuen, London 1972. p. 10; Catherine M. Keesling: The Votive Statues of the Athenian Acropolis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003, p. 58.
  9. Alan W. Johnston, "Amasis and the Vase Trade." Papers on the Amasis Painter and His World. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu 1987, 135: Ancient Greek: τοῦ δεῖνα ὑ]ύς ("son of xyz); as a demotic by Michael Vickers, "Artful Crafts. The Influence of Metal Work on Athenian Painted Pottery." Journal of Hellenic Studies. Vol. 105, 1985, p.125 n.162: Ancient Greek: Ἐλευθερε]ύς ("from Eleutherae") and David Gill, Michael Vickers, "Pottery and Precious Metal in Classical Greece." Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Vol. 105, 1990, p. 7–8: Ancient Greek: Κεραμεύς or Ancient Greek: Μελιτεύς (" from Kerameis" or "from Melite"); but the inclusion of demotics on dedication inscriptions is extremely uncommon before the late 5th century BC, as noted by Catherine M. Keesling, "Name Forms on Athenian Dedications of the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C." in Ángel Martínez Fernández (Ed.): Estudios de Epigrafía Griega. Serie investigación 1. Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de la Laguna, La Laguna 2009, pp. 349–356.
  10. Ingeborg Scheibler, "Griechische Künstlervotive der archaischen Zeit." In Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst. Vol. 30, 1979, pp. 7–29.

Bibliography
  • Antony E. Raubitschek. Dedications from the Athenian Akropolis. A catalogue of the inscriptions of the sixth and fifth centuries B. C. Archaeological Institute of America, Cambridge, Mass. 1949, pp. 232–233, no. 197.
  • Gisela Richter. Korai. Archaic Greek Maides. A Study of the Development of the Kore Type in Greek Sculpture. Phaidon, London 1968, p. 69, no. 110, ill. 336–340.
  • Katerina Karakasi. Archaische Koren. Hirmer, München 2001, p. 125. 133 tbl. 148–149. 254–256.
  • Sascha Kansteiner, Lauri Lehmann, Bernd Seidensticker, Klaus Stemmer (edd.): Text und Skulptur. Berühmte Bildhauer und Bronzegiesser der Antike in Wort und Bild. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-019610-8, pp. 5–7 (Google Books).
  • TonArt. Virtuosität antiker Töpfertechnik. Imhoff, Petersberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-86568-610-7, p. 126–127 no. 92.
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