Museum of: Athens
    Name of the artefact: The Kourotrophos (Nurse)
   
Clay figurine of a woman seated on a stool with a baby in her arms. The group depicts a mother and baby just as she prepares to suckle it.
                                 
 
WHERE IS IT AND MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
  
STATE
Department:
Prehistoric
Preservation:
 Very good
Inventory number:
5937
Restauration:
 No restored
Name of the artefact:
The Kourotrophos (Nurse)
Completeness:
 Almost Complete
Object type:
Human figurine
  
Material:
Clay
Methof of manufacture:
Hand made
Decoration type:
Painting
Distinctive mark:
Nursing
DIMENSIONS
  
PERIOD OF USE
Length (mm):
-
Epoque:
Neolithic
Heigth (mm):
165
Culture:
Classical Dimini
Diameter (mm):
-
Period:
Late Neolithic
Width (mm):
65
Face:
Late Neolithic II
Thickness (mm):
-
Absolute chronology:
4800-4500BC
Weight (g):
-
DISCOVERY
Date:
1902
Country:
Greece
District:
Thessaly
Town hall affiliation:
Volos
Village:
Sesklo
Discovery findspot:
Neolithic settlement of Sesklo
Condition of discovery:
Chance Discovery
Discovery type:
Deposit
 
ANALYSES – DETERMINATIONS
 
FILLED IN BY
Type:
-
Name:
Alexandra Christopoulou
Laboratory:
-
Institution:
National Archaeological Museum - Greece
No./Code:
-
Date:
21/11/2005
 
DEEPENINGS

Morphology of the object:
The head of the seated woman, missing now, was made separately and it was inlaid together with the neck in the hole left at the base of the neck. The woman sits comfortably in calm, but not at ease or in lasiness, embrassing a baby, which also seems as stuck on her. Beyond doubt, this group presents the eternal holly couple of the Mother and her baby. Mother’s body leans slightly forward, the baby’s arms are round her body, the right behind on the back, the left on the breast of the mother. The posture stabilised the preparation, the last movements of mother and baby just before suckling.

Decoration:
Both figures are ‘dressed’ with the dark brown painted spirals and lines, which could recall the designs which would have been woven to the clothes. Among these designs, however, the spiral might have been not only and simply decorative, but also, and mainly, symbolic. The group was created and decorated to be seen from all sides. The artist knew anatomy and some assymetries, as the long, thick lower legs, were out of his goals, as generally this part of the body is indifferent in the neolithic idoloplastic production. (object no. 5941: The lower half of a clay steatopygic female figurine. The Aphrodite’s triangle has been painted with red colour. Sesklo. Middle Neolithic Period 5800-5300 BC). Still, it is a unique artefact. It breathes vigour and simplicity, but also sensitivity and tenderness, so that the absence of the mother’s head is not immediately noticeable.

Inscription:
-

Analogies:
-

Interpretation:
The spiral design appeared and is typical in the Late Neolithic Period (5300-4500 BC); its continous circles match the reformations, the rennovations and the new approaches – evident in the excavated sites – which constitute the basic differences and characteristics of this period when compared to the previous ones, the Early and the Middle Neolithic ( photo of the spherical vase no.5922 : Clay spherical two handled vase with polychrome painted decoration; among the motifs the spira at the centre is an innovation. Dimini, Late Neolithc I, 5300-4800 BC). So these spiral motives could indicate a code related to the eternal power of the circle of Life. One could go further and connect the spiral with the spiraling/whirling of the Universe.
Bibliography:
-