<em>Female Figure</em>, ca. 3500–3400 B.C.E. Clay, pigment, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.505. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 07.447.505_front_SL3.jpg)

Female Figure, ca. 3500–3400 B.C.E. Clay, pigment, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.505. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 07.447.505_front_SL3.jpg)

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What is she doing?

We can’t be certain. This figure and those like it were created and buried before the development of writing in Egypt.

We do know that this was found in a burial. One hypothesis is that she could be dancing, another is that she could be performing a mourning ritual.

Does this figure represent a god or a human?

We can’t be certain, but figures in similar poses do appear on decorated jars larger than other human figures. In ancient Egyptian art, the largest figure is usually the most important so we can hypothesize that she could represent a goddess, or she could represent a priestess

Is her skirt an indicator of status?

Long white skirts like this are pretty unusual in Egyptian art of the Predynastic period. Therefore, we can assume that it held some kind of special meaning.

What is terracotta?

The word terracotta literally means “cooked earth.” In art, this term can be used to describe any clay that has been hardened with fire.

Did this figure have something to do with the passage from this life to the next?

It’s possible. This figure and those like have been found in burials, and we know that the ancient Egyptians believed that the soul had to make a difficult journey to reach the land of the dead.

How is it that this object is so well preserved?

This figurine, like most of the other fragile, yet exquisitely preserved objects in our Egyptian collection, was found in a burial. The object was intentionally buried, intact, and the dark, dry, undisturbed conditions underground kept it whole. In contrast, items that continued to be used by the living, were used until they broke and are only found in fragments today.

Was this made especially for burial?

This figurine was found in a burial. We do not know if this or similar figurines also had an application to the living. Scholars speculate that, in a funerary context, these figurines were somehow associated with rituals necessary for rebirth into the afterlife.

What technique is used to determine the age of a piece like this?

One way would be to compare the object to other, similar objects that scholars may have already determined that age of. Another way would be to analyze the layer of the earth in which the object was found. The age of the layer is most often determined by other objects, like especially distinctive styles of pottery; organic materials can also be dated using radiometric analysis.

What does Naqada IIa mean?

This is a term that scholars use to refer to the material culture from a particular time period in the early days of ancient Egypt, before writing developed. It was named Naqada after the site where this material culture was first identified by archaeologists.

The period is broken up into even more narrow segments based on changes in pottery shapes or other visual markers. This sculpture matches others that were made in the first part of the second period of the Naqada culture.

Was the hair painted on?

It does appear that the hair on this figure is some kind of paint. It was applied in a thick layer and much of it has worn away with time.

Female Figure

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.

This dramatic terra-cotta female figurine is one of the Museum’s oldest objects. Its level of preservation is remarkable. Although a few other examples of such figurines exist, this is the only one that is fully intact.

The statuette was excavated in 1907, found in a tomb at the site of El Ma’marîya in southern Egypt by Henri de Morgan, who was working on behalf of the Brooklyn Museum. The woman’s face is distinctive, and her emphasized nose accentuates the importance of breath. Her chest is bare, and her arms are raised over her head, hands pointed inward in a pose of praise. Her arms might mimic the horns of cattle, important animals in early Egypt. Her abbreviated legs are joined together and painted white to represent a fine skirt.

A true masterpiece of Egyptian art, the statue’s subject is an enigma. Perhaps it represents a divinity or a mortal woman performing lost rituals.

MEDIUM Clay, pigment

Place Excavated: El Ma’marîya, Egypt

DATES ca. 3500–3400 B.C.E.

PERIOD Predynastic Period, Naqada IIa Period

DIMENSIONS 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 07.447.505

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Terracotta figurine of a woman. Small head, with beak-like face, on long neck, expanding to shoulders. Rather long breasts. Waist gracefully curving into uplifted arms with hands turned in and pointed; thumbs detached; fingers, separated by sharp grooves on both sides, and graded in length naturalistically; wrists and elbows not indicated. Legs without feet, peg-shaped, their separation indicated by extremely shallow groove. Proportions rather natural. "Steatopygy" pronounced; torso flat. Fine brownish pottery, painted red on body, black, very thickly laid on, on hair; whitish, indicating cloth, from hips down; blackened near "feet" in front. Very fine specimen. Condition: Lacking both thumbs, finger-tips of right hand. Right arm repaired at elbow. Lower part repaired above knees. White painting almost entirely gone. Much of "hair" lost. Seemingly some repainting on torso.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Female Figure, ca. 3500–3400 B.C.E. Clay, pigment, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.505. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 07.447.505_front_SL3.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 07.447.505_front_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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