Sacrificing Woman

3rd-2nd century BCE · Sculpture

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Sacrificing Woman” now? Collection: Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

Harvard Art Museums

Cambridge, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 13 days ago
In this state since: Sep 27, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the sculpture

The woman, rendered simply and stylistically, stands frontally, holding out a patera in her right hand and uncertain offerings in her left. The facial features are simple, with circular eyes, round cheeks, and a broad, flat nose; the lower half of her face is chipped off. Her hear is pulled back into a round bun. Some of her hair is visible in the front under her peaked crown or headdress. She wears a short-sleeved tunic (chiton), belted high under the bust, and a mantle (himation) draped around her waist, pulled up over her left shoulder, and tucked under her arm. In her outstretched right arm, she holds out a disc with a design in the center, representing a patera. Her left arm is represented as held in close to the body and covered by the mantle, with only the hand visible, bearing a pyxis or some other type of offering.

Read on

Her left knee seems to be represented as slightly bent, and her shoes are partially visible coming out from under the front of the garment. At the bottom is a roughly square tang, as thick as the figurine, presumably used to secure it to a mount. The figurine is flat, but details of the hair and drapery are modeled on the back.

Figurines of this type are sometimes described as priestesses (1). Although the exact role of the woman is unclear, she is engaging in some type of religious activity, probably offering a libation from the patera in her hand. In a variation, these figurines often have their mantles pulled over the backs of their heads to indicate that they are involved in a ritual (2). Where findspots are known, these figurines come from sanctuaries (3).

NOTES:

1. There are a range of similar figures in D. K. Hill, Catalogue of Classical Bronze Sculpture in the Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, 1949), 102-103, nos. 227-33, pl. 46, but the closest of these to the Harvard example is no. 227, inv. no. 54.1093. Hill notes that these are found in Italy and may date from the Etruscan to Roman periods. See also M. Bentz, Etruskische Votivbronzen des Hellenismus (Florence, 1992) 97, Group 16, figs. 138-39.

2. Hill 1949 (supra 1) nos. 228-33, pl. 46, and Bentz 1992 (supra 1) 94-96, Group 15, figs. 42-44, 68-69, and 126-36; and 100-101, Group 20, figs. 155-60. Compare also

2012.1.129, the togatus.

3. Bentz 1992 (supra 1).

Lisa M. Anderson

Harvard Art Museums