Townley Caryatid - British Museum - Joy of Museums

The Townley Caryatid is a 2.25m high

Pentelic marble Mount Pentelicus or Pentelikon (, or ) is a mountain in Attica, Greece, situated northeast of Athens and southwest of Marathon. Its highest point is the peak ''Pyrgari'', with an elevation of 1,109 m. The mountain is covered in large part w ...

caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

, depicting a woman dressed to take part in religious rites (possibly fertility rites related to Demeter or

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

, due to the cereal motifs on her ''modius'' headdress). It dates to the Roman era, between 140 and 160 AD, and is in the Neo Attic style adapted from 5th century BC Athenian workmanship. It is one of a group of five surviving caryatids found on the same site, arranged to form a colonnade in a religious sanctuary built on land fronting on the

Via Appia The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, ...

owned by Regilla, wife of the Greek magnate and philosopher Herodes Atticus. This sanctuary was probably dedicated to Demeter. A fragmentary caryatid from the series, now in the

Villa Albani The Villa Albani (later Villa Albani-Torlonia) is a villa in Rome, built on the Via Salaria for Cardinal Alessandro Albani. It was built between 1747 and 1767 by the architect Carlo Marchionni in a project heavily influenced by otherssuch as G ...

, Rome, is signed by the otherwise unknown Athenian sculptors Kriton and Nikolaos. It was acquired with other purchases from the Villa Montalto in 1787A. H. Smith, "Gavin Hamilton's Letters to Charles Townley" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' 21 (1901: 306–321) p. 306 note 3. Townley inventories, where it is interpolated between No. 9 (Hecate) and No. 10 (Fortune). by

Charles Townley Charles Townley FRS (1 October 1737 – 3 January 1805) was a wealthy English country gentleman, antiquary and collector, a member of the Towneley family. He travelled on three Grand Tours to Italy, buying antique sculpture, vases, coins, manu ...

, who bequeathed it to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in 1805, where its catalogue number is 1805, 0703 44. It was until recently in Gallery 84, but is now on the Main Stairs, replacing Townley's ''

Discobolus The ''Discobolus'' of Myron (" discus thrower", el, Δισκοβόλος, ''Diskobólos'') is an Ancient Greek sculpture completed at the start of the Classical period at around 460–450 BC. The sculpture depicts a youthful male athlete thr ...

''.

References

2nd-century Roman sculptures 1787 archaeological discoveries

Caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

Neo-Attic sculptures Marble sculptures in the United Kingdom Archaeological discoveries in Italy Demeter Sculptures of women in London {{UK-sculpture-stub