Veiled Dancer

Description

Our bonded-bronze reproduction is based on an original Greek statuette in the Museum's collection believed to be from the third–second century B.C. that shows the expressive qualities of a swirling dancer's drapery. The woman's face is covered by the sheerest of veils, discernible at its edge below her hairline and at the cutouts for the eyes. Her extended right foot shows a laced slipper. This dancer has been convincingly identified as a depiction of one of the professional entertainers, a combination of mime and dancer, for which the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria was famous in antiquity.

Bonded bronze. 8 1/2''H x 5''W x 4''D.

Sorry, gift wrap is not available for this item.

Art History

During the Hellenistic Age, Greek sculptors increasingly designed works intended to be seen from multiple points of view. The complex motion of the original sculpture is conveyed exclusively through the interaction of the body with several layers of dress. Over an undergarment that falls in deep folds and trails heavily, the figure wears a lightweight mantle, drawn tautly over her head and body by the pressure applied to it by her right arm, left hand, and right leg. Its substance is conveyed by the alternation of the tubular folds pushing through from below and the freely curling softness of the fringe.