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Steatopygous Standing Figure of a Goddess
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Amlash (modern Iran), c.a. 1000 B.C.E.
Steatopygous Standing Figure of a Goddess
Clay
9 ¾ x 4 ½ x 3 in.
MSU purchase, 66.58
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The anatomical exaggeration and the lack of naturalistic representation
suggest that this statuette served as a symbol of fertility.
Although there is no cohesive tradition of steatopygous sculpture,
this shape, characterized by large hips and buttocks, appears
in the sculpture of Old Stone Age and Neolithic Europe, Asia
and the Mediterranean. Amlash art comes from a small village
in northwestern Iran, just south and west of the Caspian Sea.
This figure may have been found in one of the stone-lined graves
of their ancient cemeteries. |
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