Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

TELL LARAMA

EGYPT

on a few examples. A primer coating of
gypsum is all that remains.3 Coarser
figurines could have been dipped in
gypsum wash, rather than having a coating
brushed on it. Remnants of painting
proper — the colors turquoise, red and pink
— are still visible on four of the pieces.
It is generally possible to attribute
some of our terracotta fragments to
particular types. Of the recorded 38 pieces,
seven could belong to the so-called Nackte

Gottin type, figuring a naked woman, legs
squeezed together and arms extended
along the body, featuring a complicated
hairstyle. Some of these fragments could be
dated to the 1st century BC-2nd century
AD.4 Of the other female figures, a piece
representing a sitting woman playing the
harp is particularly noteworthy [Fig. I].
The head is missing. In style, it closely ap-
proaches two fragments of Alexandrian
origin; thus it could have been manu-


Fig. 1. Terracotta figurine of a sitting woman playing the harp
(Photo K. Jakuhiak)

3 Cf. J. Fischer, Griechisch-romische Terrakotten aus Agypten. Die Sammlungen Sieglin und Schreiber. Dresden,
Leipzig, Stuttgart, Tubingen (Tubingen 1994), 22 ("Ein tjberzug aus Gips diente der Farbe gewohnlich als Untergrund. ).
Torok consistently referred to it as "limewash", see L. Torok, Helllemstic and Roman Terracottas from Egypt (Roma
1995), 27 ff.
4 Cf. Fischer, op. cit., 330-332, Pis. 85-86, nos. 810, 812-813, and W. Weber, Die agyptisch-griechischen Terrakotten
(Berlin 1914), 134, PI. 20, no. 205.

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