Fertility Goddesses
Unknown Artist
ca. 2700–3000 BCE
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
Overall (a): H. 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm); W. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm) Overall (b): H. 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm); W. 15/16 in. (2.4 cm)
Classification
Ceramics
Culture
Baluchistan
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen, 2001
Accession Number
2001.794.224a, b
Tags
Art Historical Context
These two small terracotta figurines, created around 2700–3000 BCE in the Baluchistan region of present-day Pakistan, represent early expressions of reverence for fertility and the feminine divine. Produced during the formative centuries of the Indus Valley Civilization, such figures were likely used in household rituals or as votive offerings. Their modest scale—roughly four and three inches tall—suggests they were intimate objects, perhaps carried or placed on simple altars to invoke blessings for conception, childbirth, or agricultural abundance. Crafted from locally available clay and fir...