<em>Female Figure</em>, ca. 3500–3400 B.C.E. Clay, pigment, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.505. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 07.447.505_front_SL3.jpg)

Female Figure, ca. 3500–3400 B.C.E. Clay, pigment, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.505. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 07.447.505_front_SL3.jpg)

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Female Figure

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.

This dramatic terra-cotta female figurine is one of the Museum’s oldest objects. Its level of preservation is remarkable. Although a few other examples of such figurines exist, this is the only one that is fully intact.

The statuette was excavated in 1907, found in a tomb at the site of El Ma’marîya in southern Egypt by Henri de Morgan, who was working on behalf of the Brooklyn Museum. The woman’s face is distinctive, and her emphasized nose accentuates the importance of breath. Her chest is bare, and her arms are raised over her head, hands pointed inward in a pose of praise. Her arms might mimic the horns of cattle, important animals in early Egypt. Her abbreviated legs are joined together and painted white to represent a fine skirt.

A true masterpiece of Egyptian art, the statue’s subject is an enigma. Perhaps it represents a divinity or a mortal woman performing lost rituals.

MEDIUM Clay, pigment

Place Excavated: El Ma’marîya, Egypt

DATES ca. 3500–3400 B.C.E.

PERIOD Predynastic Period, Naqada IIa Period

DIMENSIONS 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 07.447.505

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Terracotta figurine of a woman. Small head, with beak-like face, on long neck, expanding to shoulders. Rather long breasts. Waist gracefully curving into uplifted arms with hands turned in and pointed; thumbs detached; fingers, separated by sharp grooves on both sides, and graded in length naturalistically; wrists and elbows not indicated. Legs without feet, peg-shaped, their separation indicated by extremely shallow groove. Proportions rather natural. "Steatopygy" pronounced; torso flat. Fine brownish pottery, painted red on body, black, very thickly laid on, on hair; whitish, indicating cloth, from hips down; blackened near "feet" in front. Very fine specimen. Condition: Lacking both thumbs, finger-tips of right hand. Right arm repaired at elbow. Lower part repaired above knees. White painting almost entirely gone. Much of "hair" lost. Seemingly some repainting on torso.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Female Figure, ca. 3500–3400 B.C.E. Clay, pigment, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.505. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 07.447.505_front_SL3.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 07.447.505_front_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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