Inv. Scu 989

The stele was reassembled from four pieces and has numerous missing parts that make it difficult to understand who the depicted personage is.

It is a standing female figure, turned towards the right. She is wearing sandals and is wrapped in a tunic (chiton) with wide sleeves and deep billowing above the belt (kolpos).

A cloak (himation) is fastened at the shoulder and falls downward without a belt.

Her wavy and finely combed hair falls on her back.

The interpretation of the figure remains uncertain because the action seems to require another personage on the right of the slab.

Several scholars have interpreted the figure as that of a servant who, in front of her seated master, is bringing a child or jewelry box. However, she seems to be dressed too elaborately, such that others believe it is the deceased person herself.

The hanging edges of the cloak, tied together just above the ankles, have no comparison.

The drapery recalls the treatment of the fabric in the mid-5th century BC monument of the Nereids. In fact, her left hand could be raising the folds of the chiton in the characteristic gesture of a late archaic kore. Or she could be carrying some other object, perhaps a jewelry box, while holding the lid in her right hand.

Her right hand could also be extended in a sign of greeting. In this latter case, the gesture would be that of a farewell between wife and husband or daughter and mother.

Original from the second quarter of the 5th century BC.

The fragment was found on the Esquiline Hill, near Villa Caserta.