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Ancient Near Eastern. <em>Female Figurine</em>, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.133_PS2.jpg)
Ancient Near Eastern. Female Figurine, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.133_PS2.jpg)
Ancient Near Eastern. <em>Female Figurine</em>, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.133_PS2.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. Female Figurine, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.133_PS2.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. <em>Female Figurine</em>, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_view1.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. Female Figurine, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_view1.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. <em>Female Figurine</em>, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_front_negA_print_bw.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. Female Figurine, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_front_negA_print_bw.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. <em>Female Figurine</em>, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_back_negB_print_bw.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. Female Figurine, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_back_negB_print_bw.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. <em>Female Figurine</em>, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_negC_print_bw.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. Female Figurine, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_negC_print_bw.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. <em>Female Figurine</em>, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_kev09.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. Female Figurine, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_kev09.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. <em>Female Figurine</em>, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_fertilegoddess.jpg)

Ancient Near Eastern. Female Figurine, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.133_fertilegoddess.jpg)

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Female Figurine

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

The majority of ancient Near Eastern female figures emphasize their fertility. Although the three terracotta (baked clay) figures here come from very different times and places, all are nude and two have overlarge, patterned pubic areas. Their faces are rudimentary, with little or no indication of a mouth. The copper figure, though very schematically modeled, suggests a real woman with pulled-back hair and a bulging belly, wearing a knee-length skirt and carrying an infant on her back. In contrast, the marble image, with its circular head, long neck, and U-shaped body, is reduced almost to abstraction.
This text refers to these objects: 72.133; 22.12; 51.117; 1996.146.5
CULTURES Ancient Near Eastern; Mesopotamian
MEDIUM Terracotta
  • Place Made: Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq, Turkey, & Syria)
    • DATES late 3rd millennium B.C.E.
    DIMENSIONS 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 72.133
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Ancient Near Eastern. Female Figurine, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.133_PS2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 72.133_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2008
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
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    Ancient Near Eastern. <em>Female Figurine</em>, late 3rd millennium B.C.E. Terracotta, 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 x 13/16 in. (14 x 9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Helena Simkhovitch in memory of her father, Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, 72.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.133_PS2.jpg)

    TAGS

    terracota
    clay
    female
    female figure
    abstraction
    goddess
    ancient
    Near East
    figurine
    sculpture
    statuette
    Mesopotamian
    mysterious
    Nude
    Near
    Eastern
    Art

    TAGS

    terracota
    clay
    female
    female figure
    abstraction
    goddess
    ancient
    Near East
    figurine
    sculpture
    statuette
    Mesopotamian
    mysterious
    Nude
    Near
    Eastern
    Art

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