A Marble Figure of a Muse, Boeotia, Roman Imperial, 1st/2nd Century A.D.

standing with the weight on her right leg and resting her left arm against a lyre atop a tree trunk, a plectron(?) in her right hand, and wearing a chiton tied with a belt under the breasts and himation falling from the left shoulder and draped over the legs and right forearm.

found in 1891 at Thespiai, near Mount Helikon
Elie Geladakis, Paris, 1912
private collection, Vienna and New York, acquired prior to the 1960s

Paul Jamot, "Fouilles de Thespies Le monument des Muses dans le bois de l'Hélicon, et le poète Honestus," Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, vol. 26, 1902, pp. 141-142, fig. 1
Journal of Roman Archaeology, vol. 7, 1903, p. 379
Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, Paris, vol. II,1, 2nd. ed., 1908, p. 302, no. 2 (line drawing after Jamot's photograph)
André de Ridder, "Fouilles de Thespies et de l'Hiéron des Muses de l'Hélicon" (P. Jamot 1888-1889-1890; P. Jamot et A. De Ridder 1891). Monuments figurés," Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, vol. 46, 1922, p. 244, no. 50
Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, vol. V, Paris, 1924, no. 129, no. 2 (line drawing after a photograph by Emile Espérandieu)
Fortuna Fine Arts, Ltd., New York, The Muse's Song. Selections of Ancient Art, 2008, no. 25, illus.

As shown, upper third of figure slightly more weathered than lower part, tool marks can be seen all over the figure, base chipped along most of perimeter, neck break was probably smoothed down somewhat to accommodate a new head which was subsequently removed.
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The present statue emerged from the ruins of a Medieval castle in the valley below the modern village of Erimokastro. The structure was built in part of architectural fragments, statues, and inscriptions collected from surrounding sites. According to its excavator Paul Jamot, it is conceivable that the statue originally came from a hieron or sanctuary dedicated to the Muses in Roman times, and situated close to the village of Hagia Trias in the lower foothills of Mount Helikon. In antiquity Mount Helikon was considered to be the abode of Apollo and the Muses.

When the statue was recorded on the art market in Paris in 1912 an ancient but alien marble head had been added to it. This head has only recently been removed.