GIRL PLAYING KNUCKLEBONES
Classification
Dimensions
69 x 67 x 50 cm
Date
early 20th century
Period
Material
Iconography
Production place
Inventory
Ag.291
ID
Hyp-6403
References
The seated girl pulls her legs underneath her body, and leans on her left hand; her chiton is falling off her left breast and shoulder. She has just thrown the knucklebones (astragaloi) with her right hand — a popular game in antiquity. About sixty years after its creation, the sculpture was reworked: the present head was fitted to the body in about 200 AD. The face shows portrait-like features, the statue thus depicts a real girl, whose tomb it probably decorated. This statue type evolved in the late Hellenistic period; there are six copies that prove how popular it still was in the Imperial period.
