Ancient Greek Korai display
National Archeological Museum, Athens, Greece\Material: Printed museum display panel
Date range: 650 BC – 490 BC (statues depicted); modern (panel)
Origin: National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece
The Korai statues were mostly created as gifts for the gods in holy places like the Acropolis. These figures were usually shown dressed in fine clothes to represent female grace and modesty. They often held a small gift in one hand, such as a bird or a piece of fruit, to offer to a goddess like Athena.
Unlike the naked male statues of the time, the Korai allowed artists to practice carving complex patterns in fabric. The clothes they wore, like the heavy peplos or the thin chiton, showed the high status of the person who gave the statue. This focus on beautiful clothing was a way to honor the divine through human skill and beauty.
These statues played a major role in Greek religion for over a century before the style changed after the Persian wars. Most were found near temples, showing they were a key part of how people communicated with their gods. They served as a permanent sign of a person's faith and respect for the powerful spirits of the ancient world.
Museum label reference:
KORAI
The statuary type of the kore is the female equivalent of the kouros. A kore is usually smaller than lifesize and represents female grace and modesty. Standing frontally, she, in contrast to the kouros, is shown dressed, either in the heavy Doric peplos or in a thin chiton and mantle, in the Ionic fashion. The legs are parallel, with one slightly advanced. One arm, usually the left one, is lowered, the hand pulling the dress in order to walk. The right arm is extended or rests on the chest, holding an offering (small animal, bird, fruit) or flower. On her head she wears a diadem or wreath. The coiffure shows great variety, with several ways of rendering the hair on the calotte and the long locks falling on the back and chest.
In contrast with the kouroi, where he manifests his ability to convey human anatomy, in the case of the korai the sculptor experiments with the rendering of drapery in association with the body.
The statuary type of the kore is known since the Daedalic period, when she is shown dressed in a long chiton decorated with incised motifs, often colored. The 6th century B.C. marks a radical change in her appearance, both in her pose and in her dress. The costume now exhibits great variation, and the rendering of its rich drapery forms the artist's preoccupation.
The earliest examples of korai come from Ionia and the islands (Chios, Samos, Cyclades). From the mid-sixth century B.C., they become the most important theme of Attic sculpture.
Korai are usually votive in nature and are only rarely used as grave monuments. The corpus of the korai that came to light on the Acropolis, all of them offerings to the patron goddess Athena, are of great significance for the study of this sculptural genre.
The last korai date to ca. 490 B.C. The new era that begins for Greece and particularly Attica after the victorious Persian wars will lay a new base for sculptors and lead the way to the splendid Classical art.
/History and artistic style of female Korai statues
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