Female face

Description: The piece is strikingly heavy. The short neckline below the chin swings slightly forward and, tapering a little, ends in a shallow curve. Above the narrow face, the hair parts. Moving wavy strands, some of which curl into hooked locks, billow in the area of the temples and ears; they reach down to the chin, interrupted by a shallow dip. A thin hoop, bordered by a narrow groove, lies almost horizontally in the hair. Fragmented structures with an irregular surface join it at the sides. The long smooth cheeks end in a broad prominent chin. The mouth is small, the lips are cut horizontally. Above the low, yet deep orbitals, the brows stand out vividly. Wide open, outward slanting eyes are bordered by sharp upper lids, while the lower lid blends smoothly into the cheek area.

Commentary: The relief-like, decorated female head is preserved with its original rim, with the exception of the upper break and small bumps all around. This shows that it is not a fragment of a statue or a bust, but the front part of a female head (protome) with the immediately adjoining section of the neck. We do not know how the sculpture continued upwards. The lateral formations with irregular surfaces probably belong to a veil, the small smooth elements to a polos-like headdress[1].
Because of its size and heavy weight, the object seems unsuitable for hanging freely, for example from a tree in the sanctuary. It is more conceivable that it could be attached to a smooth surface. Now, however, head protomes with a bust attachment[2] show that here, unlike the specimen in Giessen, it is not the neck area that protrudes, but the upper part of the bust, while the neck line is essentially vertical.
The motif of the head in high relief is common in the architectural sculpture of central Italy[3]. Heads, busts and whole figures decorate the front tiles on the roofs of Etruscan-Italian buildings[4]. Antefixes with female heads from Capua[5] are comparable to the Giessen protome, but its intact rim and smooth back argue against such a use. A front tile would reveal the base of the calypter (cover tile)[6].
A striking feature of the Giessen specimen is the upper part of the neck, which swings forward just below the chin. It is possible that the protome was attached to a cornice, for example, and that the lower part of the protome slightly overhung it; however, there is a lack of plausible examples for comparison[7]. It could also be - according to a suggestion by M. Recke, Giessen - the test piece of a workshop that had not yet found its place as sculptural decoration on a building.        
In terms of motif and style, the face resembles female votive heads from Capua[8] and Cales[9], both in its outline, the prominent chin and in the shape and position of the sensory organs, as well as in the hairstyle, which is composed of parted wavy strands swinging softly to the side and individual hooked curls. The closest to him is a female head votive, Capua G II a 1[10], adorned with a tiara and polos and a veil. The Giessen example also shares the shape of the face with its long smooth cheeks and angular chin. The eyes, which lie deep beneath sculpturally accentuated brow arches and lower orbitals and are framed by sharply defined upper eyelids and lower eyelids that merge softly into the cheeks, as well as the tightly closed but full, curved lips, the upper of which slightly overlaps the lower, point to a time of origin around the middle of the 4th century BC[11].

Determination: 350 BC, figural decoration from a building, Campania (Capua).

 

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[1] Cf. the decoration of the votive heads A VIII a 1; E I a 1 or E V a 1 from Capua, M. Bonghi Iovino, Terrecotte votive I (Florenz 1965) 29. 52 f.  54 f.  pl. 3, 3. 4; pl. 18, 3 and pl. 19, 3.

[2] M. Barra Bagnasco, Protomi in Terracotta da Locri epizefiri (Turin 1986) 42 no. 37 pl. 8; F. Croissant, Les protomés féminines archaϊques (Paris 1983) 345-349 nos. 228. 232 pl. 137.

[3] E.g. the Hellenistic column and pillar capitals on the podium temple in the agora of Paestum made of travertine, F. Krauss – R. Herbig, Der korinthisch-dorische Tempel am Forum von Paestum (Berlin 1939) 70-77 pls. 27 f. and 43-48; RM 45, 1930, 61 fig. 1.

[4] A. Andrén, Architectural Terracottas from Erusco-Italic Temples (Leipzig 1939) 34 no. 32 pl. 10. p. 201 no. 259 pl. 76. p. 467 f. nos. 503. 504 pl. 144; V. Kästner, Archaische Frauenkopfantefixe aus Capua, FuB 24, 1984, 66-74 pls. 11-14; Antefix with a bust, H. Koch, Dachterrakotten aus Campanien (Berlin 1912) 39 f. pl. 7, 4; Acroter with simple frame ibid 76 Abb. 85; R. A. Staccioli, Modelli di edifici etrusco-italici (Florenz 1968) 16-18 pls. 2-4.

[5] Copies without ornamental frame or relief ground, Koch 1912, 70-72 fig. 79. p. 47 pl. 14, 4 b; from Curti und Capua: P. Danner, Westgriechische Firstantefixe und Reiterkalyptere (Mainz 1996) 29 f. pls. 12, 2. 4. 5.  

[6] Koch 1912, 7 fig. 12; p. 71 fig. 79. 

[7] Either sculptural heads as gable figures, s. Danner 1996, 102 pl. 15, 4; Staccioli 1968, 29 f. pl. 20 f. or the relief of a Dionysian head as a gable appliqué..  

[8] M. Bonghi Jovino, Terrecotte votive I. Capua preromana (Florenz 1965) 59 pl. 21, 1. The faces of the votive heads A VII and A VIII, ibid. 28 f. pls. 2, 4 and 3, 1, are characterised by a softer cheek area that merges into a slight double chin and by curved lips. This tendency is continued in E I, ibid. 52, pl. 18, 3; Antefix in: Museo Provinciale di Capua, M. Bedello Tata, Botteghe artigiane a Capua, in: M. Bonghi Jovino (ed.), Artigiani e botteghe nell' Italia preromana (Rom 1990) 105 pl. 7, 1.

[9] J. M. Blasquez, Terracotas del santuario de Calés (Calvi), Campania, Zephyrus 12, 1961, 33 fig. 15 pl. 11; The head of a female half-figure in Berlin is from the same mould, V. Kästner (ed.), Etrusker in Berlin (Regensburg 2010) 70-72 fig. 6.3.

[10] Bonghi Jovino 1965, 59 pl. 21, 1.

[11] Cf. e.g. the female head from Taranto, E. Langlotz, Die Kunst der Westgriechen (München 1963) 88 fig. 132, and the female heads on the funerary reliefs in Taranto, Langlotz ibid. 90 f. figs. 136 a and 137 a.