This is a cast of a bronze statue of a standing, peplos-wearing female from the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, one of six similar statues found around the villa's large garden. The figure stands erect facing front but turning her head to her left. Her classicizing face lacks expression.
She has wavy, mid-length hair that is parted in the middle and banded with a thick fillet. Curly locks fall to her lower neck. Her right knee is slightly bent and she places much of her weight on her left leg. She wears a heavy peplos with a kolpos and overfold, the skirt of which falls in straight folds to the tops of her bare feet.
Her bent knee interrupts the straight lines of the folds. She grasps and spreads the long overfold of her garment with her raised left hand and lowered right. The cast has been painted brownish-black to appear as patinated bronze. The identity of the six peplophoroi from the large garden of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum is unknown, but suggestions have included the Danaids or other vessel carriers, dancers, or priestesses, among others.
This cast was conserved in winter 2014-2015. The image attached to this record is of the object as conserved. From January until July 2015, this object was exhibited in the Bartels Gallery, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, as part of an exhibition titled "Cast and Present: Replicating Antiquity in the Museum and the Academy."
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