On view
Ancient Mediterranean Art
Statuette of Nike,
mid-3rd century BCE
Greek, Tarentine
y1989-28
In the ancient Mediterranean, divine bodies could be shown using many representational strategies: the gods could be painted on vases or fashioned from bronze, marble, or wood; they might be rendered so small that they could sit in one’s hand, or so large that they towered over worshippers; and many gods could be depicted in multiple shapes and forms or with different iconographic attributes. These choices dramatically affected how a god’s image was perceived and, as a consequence, how the god’s presence could be experienced by their worshippers. Surviving ancient literary accounts describe how particularly striking images of the gods could elicit powerful responses in their viewers, provoking epiphanies, or sacred visions of the divine.
Information
Title
Statuette of Nike
Dates
mid-3rd century BCE
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
h. (preserved) 19.7 cm, w. 6.8 cm, d. 5.3 cm (7 3/4 x 2 11/16 x 2 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, gift of friends and colleagues in honor of Frances Follin Jones
Object Number
y1989-28
Place Made
Europe, Taranto, Southern Italy
Culture
Period
Type
Materials
Subject
Purchased by the Museum from Ariadne Galleries in 1989
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1989," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 49, no. 1 (1990): p. 24-57., p. 26 (illus.)
- J. P. Uhlenbrock, The coroplast's art: Greek terracottas of the Hellenistic world, (New Paltz, NY: College Art Gallery, The College at New Paltz, State University of New York; New Rochelle, NY: A.D. Caratzas, 1990). , p. 156; cat. no. 43
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 135 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 135
