Kore from the Cheramyes group. This headless female figure, which entered the Louvre collection in 1881, was part of the temple of Hera on the island of Samos. It was discovered near the temple in 1875, on the Sacred Way (Via Sacra). An engraved inscription runs along the edge of the veil, describing the statue as an offering to Hera by Cheramyes, a member of the Ionian aristocracy in eastern Greece. Two other statues belonging to the same sculptural group, the so-called “Cheramyes group”, dating from 570-560 BC, are exhibited in Berlin (Altes Museum, Inv. No. SK 1750) and in Samos. The sculptor has dressed this monumental figure in three items of traditional Ionian clothing: a light, finely-pleated linen tunic (the chiton), a thick woolen cloak draped like a sash around the bust (the himation) and a one-piece veil (the epiblema), which covers the back of the head and is tucked into the belt. These superimposed fabrics are the pretext for a subtle decorative play of lines and folds, originally highlighted by polychrome pigment (now gone). The artist contrasts the weight and texture of the various fabrics with consummate skill: the transparency of the veil, the graphically-treated folds of the chiton, and the thicker woolen himation. The body beneath the draperies is completely covered in the lower part of the statue, but can be discerned thanks to the beautifully-modeled fabric covering the lower back, the swelling of the belly, the chest, and the partially-veiled right hand. This statue is one of the oldest known representations of a robed young girl, or kore, one of the most important statuary types in the Archaic period. The cylindrical form of the lower part of the figure, the strict frontality of the work and the style of dress are characteristic of contemporaneous works by Samian sculptors. Towards the mid-sixth century BC, the Samian style was exported and well-known throughout the Mediterranean world. Its formulae were taken up and reinterpreted by artists in eastern Greece, particularly in Miletus. Several similar korai have also been unearthed in Attica, on the Acropolis in Athens. Souce: Museum WEB notice Marble sculpture Height 192 cm Archaic period VI century BC - Approx. 570 - 560 BC From Samos Heraion Paris, Musée du Louvre - MA 686
High Archaic Greece - I: Hera of Samos, Kore from the Chera…
