A CYPRIOTE TERRACOTTA FIGURE OF APHRODITE/ASTARTE, 6TH CENTURY B.C. | A Cypriote Terracotta Figure of Aphrodite/Astarte

standing on a rectangular base notched in front an holding an object to her chest in her right hand, and wearing a long robe, mantle, multiple-strand necklace with large circular pendant, and pendent earrings, her tall hair bound in a diadem and falling in triangular plaits over the shoulders, a vent hole in back.

Christian Faerber (1901-1967), Matthiesen Konsthandel A.B., Göteborg, Sweden
Swiss private collection, Basel, acquired from the above on March 3rd, 1947

A photostat of the 1947 Matthiesen gallery invoice states in both Swedish and German that the present figure was appraised by Alfred Westholm (1904-1996), then Dozent at the Göteborg Museum. Westholm led the Swedish Cyprus Expedition between 1927 and 1931. On Christian Faerber see The Tate Gallery: Illustrated catalogue of acquisitions, 1984, p. 175f. For a related figure in Berlin see M. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Die Bibel und Homer, 1893 pl. L,1, reversed (F. Winter, Die Typen der figürlichen Terrakotten [Die antiken Terrakotten, vol. 3], 1903, p. 17, no. 3, said to be from Paphos).