The Painted Lady

This small ceramic figure of a woman dates to approximately 320 BCE, during the early Hellenistic period, and similar objects, mostly depicting women, are scattered across the ancient Greek world. From the northern coasts of the Black Sea to the edges of Africa, hundreds of these figures have found their way into museum and private collections around the world. They are commonly called Tanagra figures, after the site in Boeotia, Greece where initial excavations took place.

In 1986, one of these figures was donated to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. Standing at just over 8” tall, this figure is special because it features traces of the pigments that were used to decorate the surface of these figures with rich patterns and vibrant colors, but which are rarely preserved today. In the fall of 2022, a team including undergraduate and graduate students, along with Carlos Museum conservation lab staff, stabilized and studied the Carlos figure. This StoryMap presents their technical findings to the public.

Most Tanagra figures were sold on the art market with no information on where they were found, making it difficult to understand why they were made and how they were used. Tanagra figures that have been discovered during documented archaeological excavations indicate that although they were highly valued objects, these figurines did not have a single purpose. Many, including the earliest ones discovered at the site of Tanagra, were grave goods interred with deceased people, while others have been discovered in houses or dedicated as offerings in temples.

The Carlos Tanagra's ownership history (or provenance) can be traced back to the inventory of Dr. Mathias Komor, a Hungarian-born antiquities dealer active in New York from the 1940s until his death in 1984. Komor's inventory label is still visible on the figure's hollow interior. The figure's history before it was acquired by Komor remains unknown. It was donated to the Carlos in 1986 by the Christian Humann Foundation.

Tanagra figures were produced in a wide variety of shapes and sizes; the Carlos figure is based on a sculptural type known as the Large Herculaneum Woman, named for the site where the type was originally discovered. It depicts a woman in a dynamic pose who is wearing a chiton, a type of tunic that was worn by both men and women in ancient Greece, and draped with a himation, a shawl worn exclusively by women. Scholars believe this type of sculpture is based on a commemorative portrait sculpture of an unidentified woman that was produced at Athens by one of the great sculptors of the late 4 ^th  century BCE, Praxiteles or Lysippos.

Most Tanagra figures were produced in two-piece molds, one for the back of the figure and one for the front. Heads were molded separately and joined to the figure with a tang, or clay support, which is visible in X-ray images of the Carlos figure. After all of the pieces were joined together, figures were fired in a kiln to harden the clay. Vent holes were usually added to figures’ backs to allow steam to escape during the firing, lessening the chance that the figure would break. A large mineral accretion is adhered to the Carlos figure’s vent hole, probably caused by the soil conditions in which it was deposited.

Although the seam where the two molded pieces were joined is not visible on the Carlos figure, other evidence of its production survives: as the ancient artisan who made the figure touched the soft clay before firing, they left behind fingerprints that are still visible on the figure.

The round vent hole and orange hue of the clay suggest that the Carlos Tanagra may not have been made at Tanagra, but at another production center such as north Africa or southern Italy (Jeammet, 2010).

Because Tanagra figures based on the Large Herculaneum Woman sculpture have been found throughout the Mediterranean region and beyond, it is difficult to determine where a specific figure was made. While the scientific analyses available for this study did not allow for a location to be identified with certainty, characteristics like the reddish color of the clay and the shape of the vent hole suggest that an origin in Egypt or the surrounding region is a strong possibility.

Like ancient Greek sculptures, Tanagra figures were originally polychrome, meaning that they were painted with vibrant colors that rarely survive today. The figure at the Carlos is exceptional because so much of its painted surface has been preserved. Unfortunately, when it was initially examined during 2022, pigment was actively flaking off the figure, making it too fragile for study or display

Mellon Fellow Ella Andrews devised a clever solution in the Carlos Museum’s Karen Mariea Madsen Parsons Conservation Laboratory. Andrews utilized a medical nebulizer to finely mist the figure with a transparent resin solution, then sealed it with a seaweed-based solution which dries matte and does not interfere with analysis. A portable mount was then constructed to support the figure so it could be safely transported, examined, and handled.

After the pigments were stabilized, a variety of technical analyses were used to determine what kinds of pigments were used to paint the figure. Technical analysis of the figure has provided insight into the pigments that were used to create these colors. Tanagra figures were typically covered with a ground layer of smooth clay like kaolin, which created a surface that would bond well with the paint.

Black: The black pigment applied to the figure's hair is consistent with a carbon-based material like charcoal, which was commonly used throughout the ancient world.

Pink: Organic pigments like madder lake, extracted from the roots of the rose madder plant, were widely used to create pink hues in the ancient world. Traces of pink color are visible on the upper part of the figure's himation (shawl), but the samples were too minute to identify the pigment.

Blue: When viewed with visible-induced infrared luminescence (VIL), the blue pigment on the figure’s chiton luminesces brightly. This is characteristic of Egyptian blue, known to have been widely used on Tanagra figures. First discovered in ancient Egypt, Egyptian blue is a synthetic pigment produced from copper and other minerals. VIL imaging also showed that the Egyptian blue pigment had been applied in a pattern, outlining a yellow square.

Yellow: X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of the yellow pigment decorating the center of the chiton revealed high levels of arsenic, one of the main components of orpiment. Commonly used in the ancient world to imitate gold, this pigment was called auripigmentum (literally, “gold pigment”) in Latin. This finding is significant because it appears to be the first time that orpiment has been documented on a Greek terracotta figure (Bourgeois and Jeammet, 2020). Some Tanagra figures were gilded with actual gold leaf, which may suggest that the artisan wanted to create a similar effect here.

Careful analysis of the traces of pigment remaining on the figure allowed us to create a digital image that envisions how it may have looked when it was produced. Although it is based on scientific analysis, this reconstruction can only approximate the original appearance. Some areas of the figure have no surviving pigment, and the presence of other colors may have left no evidence to allow them to be reconstructed.

Far from being a local phenomenon, ‘Tanagra’ figures are examples of the cosmopolitanism that defined the Hellenistic period. This allowed them to proliferate from Olbia in modern Ukraine to Alexandria in Egypt. They are simultaneously united by their common designs and distinguished by local tastes, and they represent a rich resource for scholars seeking to understand this period. Despite being well known for nearly 150 years, they still have many secrets to reveal.