About the Artwork
The beautifully draped statue of a mature woman may be a representation of Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. A flat surface on the folds of the cloak against the left arm of the figure may have held a tablet, an attribute of Calliope. She might have been fashioned as a funerary monument, representing a deceased matron as Calliope, or as part of a public sculpture with all nine muses portrayed. Her stance produces a gentle curve to her body. Since the back of the statue is unfinished it was presumably set against a wall or in a niche. The work of art appears to be a late Hellenistic copy of an early Hellenistic creation, elegant even though incomplete.
Draped Female Figure
between 2nd and 1st century BCE
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Greek
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Marble
Overall: 71 × 26 × 19 1/2 inches (180.3 × 66 × 49.5 cm) Mount: 23 × 23 × 23 inches (58.4 × 58.4 × 58.4 cm)
Sculpture
Greco-Roman and Ancient European
City of Detroit Purchase
24.113
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
(Lucerne Fine Art Co.);1924-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Booth, Ralph H. et al. "Report of the Arts Commission for the Year 1924," Bulletin of the DIA 6, no. 5 (February 1925): 46–55, front cover (ill.), pp. 46, 50.
Cummings, Frederick J. and Charles H. Elam, eds. The Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 34. (ill.).
Henshaw, Julia, ed. A Visitor's Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 113 (ill.).
Lindner, M. "The Woman from Frosinone: Honorific Portrait Statues of Roman Imperial Women," MAAR, vol. 51/52. 2006–2007, pp. 43–85, (fig. 1, 1a-g) [as by an unknown Roman maker from the Claudian era, depicting Livia as Juno]
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Greek, Draped Female Figure, between 2nd and 1st century BCE, marble. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase, 24.113.
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