Demeter of Knidos
- Title:
- Demeter of Knidos
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- possibly Leochares (modern attribution)
- Photographer:
- Alexandridis, Annetta
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
ca. 350-330 BCE
2009 (image)
- Site:
- Knidos, Datça Peninsula, Turkey (excavated 1858) (original)
- Location:
- Warehouse
Knidos, Datça Peninsula, Turkey (excavated 1858) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0248
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 252
248 - File Name:
- CCC_0248.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 152 (H) cm
- 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 lower front
- Measurement:
- 155 x 69 (centimeters, height x width)
broken part of throne: ca. 50 x 15 (centimeters, height x width) - Description:
- This is a cast of the marble, seated Demeter from the sanctuary of Demeter at Knidos housed in the British Museum. The goddess sits on a throne with her head turned vaguely to her left and glances up slightly. Her body is wrapped in a heavy himation that veils the back of her head and is then pulled from below her right armpit across her chest and over her left shoulder. Wavy hair surrounds Demeter's face and falls in curly locks to her chest and shoulders. This cast preserves the minor damages to the goddess' nose, lips, and chin seen on the original. 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. In the original both knees and the front part of her right calf are damaged, both forearms, hands, and feet are missing. In this cast the right side back part of the throne is broken away but preserved (see ID no. 248a). 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:
- Belongs with ID no. 248a. See also ID no. 725, which is a cast of just the head of this sculpture.
- 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.