Standing Woman Holding a Box

This terracotta figurine, of a woman holding a box, likely served a religious purpose as a votive offering (or gift) to a deity. Figurines of this type are often found in votive deposits in sanctuaries and occasionally in tombs in the late Classical period. Often, like this object, they perhaps represent an image of the dedicator engaged in cult or ritual for the honored deity, sometimes carrying ritual objects as if they were participating in a religious procession. See, for example, 1919.520, another figurine in the collection depicting a woman holding a sash or fillet cloth instead of a box. Comparison with other similar female figurines (particularly her intricately plaited hairstyle and wide headdress) suggest that this figurine was likely made in Boeotia, central Greece. Similar, contemporary terracotta figurines of young men from Boeotia also often wear an elaborate hairstyle and a wide headdress.