| Collection: | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
| Title: | Grave Stele of Aristomache |
| Context: | Possibly from Attica |
| Summary: | A woman, Aristomache, holding a doll, stands within a naiskos |
| Object Function: | Funerary |
| Material: | Marble |
| Sculpture Type: | Stele, relief-decorated |
| Category: | Single sculpture |
| Style: | Late Classical |
| Technique: | Medium relief |
| Original or Copy: | Original |
| Date: | ca. 350 BC |
| Dimensions: | H. 1.27 m; W. 0.52 m; D. 0.045 m |
| Scale: | Miniature (pictorial field) |
| Region: | Attica |
| Period: | Late Classical |
Subject Description:
Aristomache, a young woman, stands 3/4-view to the left, with weight on her left leg, and her right leg relaxed. She wears a medium-sleeved chiton (undergarment) with a himation over it, wrapped over her left shoulder, around her waist, and back over her bent left arm. She holds a doll (a naked female figure, broken off at the knees) in her right hand, raised just above shoulder level, and a bird (whose head is missing) in her left hand. Her fleshy neck (with one so-called 'Venus ring') attaches to her surprisingly mature head. She wears her hair brushed up and bound in a topknot. In the pediment, the siren is in a frontal pose, with wings spread, and her right hand clutching her breast--a mourning gesture.
Form & Style:
The pediment, enclosing a siren and traces of seated sphinx on left, has a series of ornamental antefixes (3 of 7 are preserved) just above the entablature. This "roof" is supported by two antae (pilasters) that flare at the top and terminate in schematic rectangular capitals. A plinth, on which Aristomache stood, as almost entirely chipped off.
The stele is rendered in a sketchy style, with angular drapery, not very finely carved (see, especially, the rough work on the undergarment), and anatomical imprecision (especially on the hands). The small hands and head, as well as the drapery, complete with tear-drop corners of the himation, are characteristic of the middle of the fourth century.
Condition: Nearly complete
Condition Description:
The relief is reconstructed from four or more fragments, comprising the figure of the girl, the upper left hand and lower right hand corners of the stele, and the central part of the siren (without head). It has been rebuilt, with plaster added in other corners of the stele. The plinth has been chipped off partially on both sides of the figure.
Material Description: 'Pentelic' marble (Comstock & Vermeule)
Inscription: On the epistyle of the naiskos:
Inscription Bibliography: SEG 28.278
Collection History: From the art market in Switzerland. Acquired in 1966.
Sources Used:
Other Bibliography: G.I. Despinis, AM 109 (1994) 179 n. 18; MuM 29.XI.1958, no. 6