CLOTHING ON THE ARCHAIC GREEK KORAI
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 18/11/2020

The Greek Korai are sculptures of elaborately dressed young women, carved from marble, engraved with patterns and painted with bright colours. They iconic artefacts of archaic Greece (c.650-500 BC). Art historians recognise the Korai for their fine sculptural qualities. Recently a number of the sculptures have been revaluated for their surface pattern and polychrome, adding a rich layer of knowledge to the way the stone sculpture was originally decorated, especially in terms of their clothing. In the classification and interpretation of the clothing scholars tend to be less enthusiastic. The clothing represented on the sculptures does not always fit into the established understanding of Greek female dress of peplos, chiton, mantle and himation; a schema found in both contemporary text and the academic canon. Possibly for this reason the clothing is often described as confused or unrepresentative of actual garments and dismissed as artistic fantasy.
In this paper, I propose an alternative approach. I take as a starting point that the sculptors and painters were likely knowledgeable of the material culture that surrounded them, even if they worked within a stylistic framework. On this basis, the focus of analysis will be on understanding the textiles represented on the Korai. The textiles will be considered for their size, texture, patterns, drape, colour and borders, which is analysed through the evidence of sculptural shape, position, engraved pattern and painted colour. The textile iconography will be compared to evidence of archaeological textiles, their material qualities and technical potential. From this perspective, I suggest that the original artists sought to demonstrate the fineness and complexity of their textile tradition, and that the quality and quantity of textiles for clothing was one of the prime features they wished to represent.


Author(s): Harris, Susanna (University of Glasgow)