Standing Female Figure

This slender statuette with its flat body, delicate downward-turned arms and slender legs and feet may represent a male figure. The head consists of a pointed oval shape within which the nose and mouth are faintly modeled. Its small feet pointing forward bear tangs projecting from the soles. The right foot has been bent backwards slightly at the ankle. Shallow depressions at the groin outline the genitalia, but it is uncertain whether these are meant to indicate a male or female.

The distinctive modeling of the anatomy and proportions of this statuette clearly identify it as a product of one of the prolific workshops that produced votive bronze statuettes for sanctuaries in the Northern Lebanese city of Byblos in the Late Bronze Age. Dozens if not hundreds of similar statuettes have emerged from large caches discovered by French excavators there.

David G. Mitten