Mycenaean terracotta female figurines are an enigma to art historians

Posted by Suzanne Hill Sep 3, 2006

Mycenaean art may resemble that of Minoa and Crete, but ultimately it is distinctive unto itself. One unique art form is the clay female figurine, typically red, cream, and brown in color, made in approximately 1400 B.C.

While in Greece, I saw many of these statues: both the "real" ones in museums and their copies in gift shops. Now that I've been home for several weeks I find that I can't shake their appeal. At first I dismissed them as "crude" or "cute." It's interesting to note that these figurines have no resemblance whatever to the contemporary statuettes of bronze or ivory, such as "Three Deities" also made in Mycenae at the same time. So there's no reason to believe the artists weren't capable of much more delicate work.

So why are these figures, somewhat primitive yet definitely feminine, so appealing to me? Basically they have very little in the way of a face, a mouth, clothing, or any kind of detail. Yet they've stayed in my imagination as a rather haunting evocation of motherhood or goddess.