Statue of a Woman, Perhaps a Niobid
Unknown · 1st-2nd century AD (?)
A woman in a sleeved, belted chiton, with a himation wrapped around her hips and sandals on her feet, stands in a quiet, slightly twisting pose. The head and both arms are lost, and dowel holes in the shoulders show that the arms were made separately, perhaps in a different marble. The body is broken in two at mid thigh, the back has lost two large pieces, and the surface has weathered, so the folds are softer than the sculptor intended. Yet the fall of the drapery, with its thick roll of cloak at the hip, is still clear and well designed.
The museum suggests, with a question mark, that she may be one of the daughters of Niobe, the mother who boasted of her children and saw them shot down by Apollo and Artemis; groups of fleeing Niobids were popular in Roman gardens. The statue was made and found at Patras in Greece, in the first or second century AD, and was given to the Louvre in 1829. Without head or arms the identification stays open, and the figure is best enjoyed simply as a fine study of a woman in motion caught in stone.
Did You Know? Holes drilled into both shoulders show that her arms were carved separately and pinned on, a common shortcut in Roman workshops.
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