The Peplos Kore
About 530 BC
Among the crowd of elaborately dressed maidens in the Archaic Gallery, one figure stands out for her simplicity. She wears a heavy, straight woollen garment called a peplos over a thin under-dress, belted at the waist, with none of the crinkled folds and diagonal mantles of her neighbours. Her hair falls in long ropes over her shoulders, her left arm was once extended forward holding something, and her face has the alert, slightly amused expression that makes her one of the most loved statues in Athens. She is a little under life size and was carved around 530 BC, probably as a dedication to Athena.
Colour is the key to this statue. When she was found, she still carried substantial traces of paint: red on the lips and hair, patterns of animals and rosettes on the dress, and a painted necklace. Modern studies, some with ultraviolet light, have shown that the garment was covered in a woven pattern of lions, horses and riders, which has led scholars to argue that she may not be a mortal girl at all but a goddess, perhaps Artemis or even Athena herself, holding a bow or spear in the missing hand. Look at the drilled holes in her head and ears, where a bronze crown and earrings were once attached.
Like the other korai, she was found in 1886 in the fill on the Acropolis, buried by the Athenians after the Persian destruction of 480 BC. Her head and body were discovered separately and joined later. Painted reconstructions of her, in bright reds, greens and yellows, have been shown in exhibitions around the world and shock many visitors who think of Greek sculpture as pure white marble. Stand close and look at the surviving colour on the hair and eyes; the white stone was only ever the beginning.
Did You Know? Ultraviolet studies revealed painted lions and horsemen on her dress, so she may be a goddess rather than a girl.
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