Fragment of a Sarcophagus Lid with a Woman Holding a Fan
Unknown · c. 250-200 BC
Only the right half of this lid survives: the upper body of a woman with her hair gathered in a chignon under a crown, an earring, a belted chiton and a himation. She wears a torque and two bracelets, one of them snake shaped, and holds a fan in the form of a leaf, the fashionable accessory of a Hellenistic lady. The face was moulded and the rest modelled by hand, with the crown, the eyes and the details of the jewellery incised into the clay before firing. Traces of slip remain across the surface; the tip of the nose is missing and the crown and drapery are chipped.
The fragment dates from the second half of the third century before Christ and was made at Chiusi or Tuscania, the museum leaving the question open. It was purchased in eighteen sixty one as part of the Campana collection. At some point before nineteen seventy six it was taken apart and rejoined, the left forearm, the tip of the fan and several fingers being reattached. Half a body is enough to see how the sculptor rendered a proud, well dressed woman of a prosperous Etruscan family.
Did You Know? She holds a fan shaped like a leaf, the must have accessory of a fashionable Hellenistic lady.
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