What medium is "Plaque in the Form of a Female Figure (Study Collection)"?

Plaque in the Form of a Female Figure (Study Collection) is Terracotta.

Is "Plaque in the Form of a Female Figure (Study Collection)" in the public domain?

Yes, Plaque in the Form of a Female Figure (Study Collection) is in the public domain and available for free download under CC0 license.

Plaque in the Form of a Female Figure (Study Collection)

Q: When was "Plaque in the Form of a Female Figure (Study Collection)" created?

This artwork was created ca. 2nd–3rd century.

Unknown Artist

ca. 2nd–3rd century

Medium

Terracotta

Dimensions

H. 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm)

Classification

Sculpture

Culture

Pakistan

Department

Asian Art

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Credit

Gift of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, 1988

Accession Number

1988.421.10

Tags

Gandhara

Art Historical Context

This delicate terracotta plaque, shaped as a female figure, hails from ancient Gandhara in present-day Pakistan, dating to around the 2nd–3rd CE. Standing just 2½ inches (6.4 cm) tall, it the modest yet expressive votive sculptures common in the region during the Kushan Empire. Crafted from fired clay—a widely accessible medium in South Asia—this piece likely served devotional or protective purposes, perhaps as an offering to a fertility goddess or yakshi (nature spirit), reflecting everyday spiritual life. Gandhara art is renowned for its fusion of Greco-Roman realism, introduced via Alexand...

Plaque in the Form of a Female Figure (Study Collection)

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