Print Format - Rupert Wace Ancient Art

Tanagra terracotta draped female figure
Hellenistic. c. 3rd century BC
Depicted wearing a chiton and himation wrapped tightly around her, she stands with her weight on her left leg, facing to the right. Her right arm, hidden beneath the
folds, is held up to her throat, the cloak draped over her extended left arm. She wears a stephane above wavy hair tied in chignon at the back.
This comes with a thermoluminescence test report confirming its antiquity.
Height: 27.4 cm
Provenance:
Collection Pierre et Claude Vérité, acquired between 1930 and 1960, Paris.
The collection of Pierre (b.1900) and Suzanne Vérité and their son Claude (b. 1928) and his wife Janine, was rich and diverse but almost unknown until recently. The
secrecy or discretion of the owners was absolute with Pierre even flatly denying he had a collection at all although many major exhibitions, particularly of tribal art,
contained sculptures that the family owned. An artist, he started buying tribal or primitive art in the 1920s and soon became a dealer opening his first shop in 1934
but continuing still to paint. In 1937 the gallery moved and was renamed Galerie Carrefour. The years up until 1965 were the most active. Before the war the family
were advised to leave Paris but choose to stay with their collection including works from Egypt and Greece. Regular trips to Egypt were made after the war in the
early 1950s. They knew many of the most famous artists and poets of the Paris scene in the years before the war and these friendships continued afterwards. Artists
such as Picasso, Matisse, Leger, Vlaminck and Derain were clients.
Literature:
Named for the cemetery in Boeotia where they were first identified, it has been suggested these Tanagra figures may have been inspired by theatrical productions
where women played on the stage. Alternatively, they have been thought to portray ladies of fashion. For a discussion see Robert S. Bianchi et al, 'Cleopatra's
Egypt. Age of the Ptolemies' (Brooklyn, 1988) pp. 220-221, cats. 112-114.