Description - Comments:

The inset head, inset wrists (the dowel holes are preserved on the surface of the marble), as well as an also inset small part of the himation in front of the right wrist (the marble surface is appropriately worked with the chisel) are missing. Small parts of the himation in the area around the left wrist, as well as the left part of the plinth are broken. The back is roughly worked, indicating that it was not meant to be seen. The statue depicts a standing, frontal female figure, wearing a long chiton, a wide himation that wraps tightly around the body (a small round tassel is indicated on the left angular end of the garment), and closed leather shoes (calcei muliebres). More specifically, the himation is wrapped in a rather complex way around the body, following the so-called “Formia” statuary type. It is wrapped tightly under the chest, while its front edge creates a characteristic triangular shape from the right shoulder to the slightly bending left forearm (its edge falls on the left forearm, leaving the wrist uncovered). Based on stylistic parallels (cf. e.g. the female portrait statue from the Olympia Nymphaeum {Γ114}, 149-153 CE), it should be dated to the Antonine period.

Bibliography:

Α.Μ. Woodward, “Excavations at Sparta, 1927. The Theatre”, BSA 28 (1926-1927), 30-31, no. 5, figs. 9-10 (3rd c. CE); F.P. Johnson, Corinth IX. Sculpture 1896-1923, Cambridge MA 1931, 20; H. Kruse, Römische weibliche Gewandstatuen des zweiten jahrhunderts n.Chr., Göttingen 1975, 177 note 286, no. 9; A. Filges, Standbilder jugendlicher Göttinnen, Köln-Weimar-Wien 1997, 162 note 640 no. 16; V. Di Napoli, Teatri della grecia romana: forma, decorazione, funzioni. La provincia d'Acaia, Meletemata 67, Athens 2013, 92 with note 82, 187, no. 32.34, pl. 31.3 (early Severan period); S. Tuccinardi, “Sculture romane da Formia. Una proposta di lettura in contest”, in C. Capaldi, C. Gasparri eds., Complessi monumentali e arredo scultoreo nella Regio I Latium et Campania: nuove scoperte e proposte di lettura in contest. Atti del convegno internazionale, Napoli, 5 e 6 dicembre 2013, Napoli 2017, 61 note 88; M. Geivanidou, Εικονιστικοί ανδριάντες στα θέατρα των ρωμαϊκών ανατολικών επαρχιών, Thessaloniki 2021, 58, 126, 175, cat. no. 93 (first half of the 3rd c. CE);

https://arachne.dainst.org/entity/1089853?fl=20&q=Sparta&resultIndex=154