Kore of Samos, called the Hera of Samos
Unknown (Samos) · c. 570-560 BC
A tall woman, nearly two metres high even without her head, stands like a column, her body wrapped in three layers of cloth. The thin, finely pleated chiton clings to her legs in vertical ridges, a short mantle crosses her chest diagonally, and a heavier veil hangs down her back. The round base suggests a tree trunk, and the figure widens gently from the feet to the shoulders like a growing plant. Along the front edge of the veil an inscription in Greek reads: Cheramyes dedicated me to Hera as an offering.
The statue was found in 1875 in the sanctuary of Hera on the island of Samos, off the coast of Asia Minor, one of the great religious centres of the eastern Greek world. It is not the goddess herself but a kore, an offering placed along the sacred way by a wealthy man named Cheramyes, who dedicated at least three other statues of the same type. Made in the second quarter of the sixth century BC, it shows the Ionian taste for rich drapery and subtle surface texture, quite different from the muscular nudes of the mainland. The Louvre acquired it in 1881.
Did You Know? The donor Cheramyes had his name carved on the statue's veil, and other statues bearing his dedication have since been found on Samos.
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