Although this sketch is devoted principally to bronze
and marble sculpture, I cannot resist the temptation to
illustrate by a few examples the charming little
terra-cotta figurines which have been found in such
great numbers in graves at Tanagra and elsewhere in
Boeotia. It is a question whether the best of them were
not produced before the end of the period covered by the
last chapter. At all events, they are post-Praxitelean.
The commonest subjects are standing or seated women;
young men, lads, and children are also often met with.
Fig. 170 shows another favorite figure, the winged Eros,
represented as a chubby boy of four or five – a
conception of the god of Love which makes its first
appearance in the Hellenistic period. The men who
modeled these statuettes were doubtless regarded in
their own day as very humble craftsmen, but the best of
them had caught the secret of graceful poses and
draperies, and the execution of their work is as
delicate as its conception is refined.
F. B. Tarbell, A History of Ancient Greek Art
