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Uncertain Works or Forgeries (125–129) 125 STATUETTE OF STANDING FEMALE MS 5681 (see CD Fig. 2) Said to have been found while digging foundations for a building on the via Salaria in Rome Possible late 19th c. copy of a Late Hellenistic or Roman Imperial period work (late 2nd c. BC to 2nd c. AD) Fine-grained white marble H. with plinth 0.71; H. head and neck 0.12; W. 0.22; Th. 0.18 m. ACQUISITION: Bought by the Museum from the New York dealer Dr. L. T. Caldarazzo (acting as an agent through Adolphe Bassi for the owner in Rome) in February 1926 for $35,000 with funds from an anonymous donor secured by Charles C. Harrison, President of the Board of Managers. Misnumbered MS 5772 in 1977, then renumbered MS 5681. PUBLICATIONS: MusJ 17, 1926:219: reference to purchase of “a Greek statuette of Demeter”; Philadelphia Public Ledger, February 21, 1926:3; Aspects of Ancient Greece 1979:176–79, no. 86; Albertson 1983:21–31; Vermeule and Brauer 1990:75; Bartman 1992:55, n. 18. CONDITION: Complete. Missing left index finger and end of attribute in left hand. Section of left top of head is repaired (not an ancient repair). Nose is chipped. Head broken off at the base of the neck in 1967 and reattached to body with a dowel in 1978. Conservation reports in 1978 indicate that there was evidence that the head had been previously attached at the neck with adhesives and plaster. The joining surfaces of the bottom of the neck and upper body seem to be worked smooth and there is no ancient dowel. The surface of the body in 1978 was covered with grayish and yellowish accretions and thick patches of yellowish-tan material to fill damaged areas. When all of these accretions and substances were removed, it revealed a pitted surface. The surface appears to have been treated in some way, producing a sugary appearance and with some pitting and gouging, especially deliberate-looking on the back. There is some dark staining on the outside of the left hand, on the shoulders, breasts, plinth, and upper back. Some incrustation, especially on the drapery. Large chip from back right edge of pedestal. DESCRIPTION: One–third lifesized standing female with her right leg straight bearing the weight, and her left bent and turned slightly to the side. Her right arm, beneath the himation, is bent and turned with the back of her wrist resting on her hip, while the left is slightly bent and held down and forward holding a sheaf of wheat and poppy bud. The head is turned to her left and slightly inclined. The hair is styled in the melon coiffure, parted in rows with the strands twisted and pulled back into a flattened bun at the back, with one twisted strand looped around the base of the bun. In front of each ear is a small “kiss curl.” The face is small and oval with a high triangular forehead; deep-set, widely spaced elongated oval eyes with thickened ridges for the lids; a long straight nose; a small mouth with well-shaped protruding lips; and a fleshy chin. The figure wears a sleeved chiton bound by a cord under her himation. The deep folds of the chiton appear on the lower legs and collapse on the tops of the feet. While the himation has slipped off her left shoulder, it envelopes the right side of her body, draped tightly so that it reveals full breasts and heavy thighs. The folds form a strong diagonal from the right shoulder to the left wrist, looping around the left arm with the excess falling along the left side, ending in a weight or tassel resting on the left foot. She wears thick-soled sandals with a slight indentation between the first and second toes and a more shallow one between the second and third toes. The back is summarily finished in broad planes and was not meant to be seen. The statuette is carved in one piece with a plain oval plinth (H. 0.03 m.). COMMENTARY: On February 21, 1926, a sensational story appeared in the Philadelphia Public Ledger with erroneous information concerning the acquisition of this statuette. The report in the press indicated that the Museum was CAT. NO. 125 Uncertain Works or Forgeries 273 given the statuette by a prominent Philadelphian who had purchased it for $350,000 as an original by the sculptor Praxiteles. In...

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