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

Although the figure is roughly executed, with the facial features barely discernable, there is a lively rhythm to her torso. She wears a chiton bound at the waist by a broad band and a mantle drawn over her head, over her left shoulder, behind her right arm, and in an oblique roll across her lower body, where it is held by her large left hand. The extended right arm, missing at the elbow, would have held a patera. The feet are missing. The back shows rounded forms but no detail.

This is one of the many mass-produced figures offered at sanctuaries. As with the male votary, 1920.44.45, she is derived from a Hellenistic type popular in the third century BCE (1).

NOTES:

Read on

1. See S. Haynes, Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History (Los Angeles, 2000) 357-58, fig. 280. See also M. Bentz, Etruskische Votivbronzen des Hellenismus (Florence, 1992) 94-96, Group 15 (15.1.1 and 15.2.1 are very similar), pls. 24-26. According to Bentz, the mass production began in the third century BCE, and he dates the group in the middle of the century, although manufacture probably continued thereafter; see ibid., 142. For the possible cult association with Minerva, see ibid. 53-54.

Jane A. Scott

Harvard Art Museums