Head of Demeter of Knidos
- Title:
- Head of Demeter of Knidos
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- possibly Leochares (modern attribution)
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
ca. 350-330 BCE
- Site:
- Knidos, Datça Peninsula, Turkey (excavated 1858) (original)
- Location:
- Goldwin Smith Hall (Room 264), Cornell University
Knidos, Datça Peninsula, Turkey (excavated 1858) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0785
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 206
206 (in black print on front)
725 - File Name:
- CCC_0785.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 152 (H) cm (complete statue)
- Culture:
- Greek
- Style/Period:
- Late Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Demeter (Greek deity)
- Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 54 (with socle) x 41 (without socle) x 27 x ca. 25 (centimeters, height x height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a cast of the head of the marble, seated Demeter from the sanctuary of Demeter at Knidos housed in the British Museum. The goddess' head is turned vaguely to her left and she glances up slightly. The back of Demeter's head is veiled and wavy hair surrounds her face and falls in curly locks from behind her ears. The nose, lips, and chin, slightly damaged in the original, have been restored in this cast. The head of the original was carved from a different, heavily polished piece of marble and attached to the body just below the collar bone. This cast was taken from the head while detached from the remainder of the statue. The Demeter was perhaps a cult statue but could, instead, have been a votive offering. Ashmole speculated that the work stood next to a statue of Persephone. Based on the style and specific characteristics of the work, it has been tentatively attributed to the fourth century Athenian sculptor, Leochares.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. 1859,1226.26 - Bibliography:
- Bernard Ashmole, "Demeter of Cnidus," Journal of Hellenic Studies 71 (1951), 13-28
John Boardman, Greek Sculpture: The Late Classical Period (London: Thames and Hudson, 1995), 71, fig. 49 - Related Work:
- ID nos. 248 and 248a are the cast of the complete statue.
- Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
London, British Museum (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.