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FRAGMENT: ATHENA IN A SHIPBUILDING SCENE
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FRAGMENT: ATHENA IN A SHIPBUILDING SCENE
Early 1st century AD
Terracotta
Height: 15cm
Width: 17cm
Width: 17cm
Museum number: M1161.B
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 460
Not on display
Curatorial note
The helmeted head, shoulders and right arm of Athena seated right wearing chiton and mantle; to the left and behind her are visible part of the sail and yard arm which she is holding beside her. Behind the sail are the column on which her owl (the bird of wisdom, Athena's attribute) is perched and, at the extreme left, a section of the arched wall at the back of the composition.
Group I: Wainscoting Plaque.
The best complete example of this earlier first century AD plaque is in the British Museum and is titled 'Athena supervises the building of the ship "Argo" for the expedition of Jason and the Argonauts. Athena adjusts the sail while the helmsman Tiphys holds the yard'.1
1 BM Greek and Roman Antiquities Catalogue, Terracotta D603 (BM museum number 1805,0703.301); H. Von Rohden and H. Winnefeld, Die antiken Terracotten, vol. IV. 1,2, (Architektomische römische Tonreliefs der Kaiserzeit), IV, Des., pp. 12-14, pp. 254-255, pl. XXXII.
Group I: Wainscoting Plaque.
The best complete example of this earlier first century AD plaque is in the British Museum and is titled 'Athena supervises the building of the ship "Argo" for the expedition of Jason and the Argonauts. Athena adjusts the sail while the helmsman Tiphys holds the yard'.1
1 BM Greek and Roman Antiquities Catalogue, Terracotta D603 (BM museum number 1805,0703.301); H. Von Rohden and H. Winnefeld, Die antiken Terracotten, vol. IV. 1,2, (Architektomische römische Tonreliefs der Kaiserzeit), IV, Des., pp. 12-14, pp. 254-255, pl. XXXII.
Provenance
See Vermeule 459.
Literature
Von Rohden, IV, p.12.
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