Dancer (c. 50 BCE): Art, History and Details

Dancer (c. 50 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The pose and dress of this statuette of a woman, together with her elaborate sandals and hairstyle, suggest that she represents a dancer. Standing with one knee slightly bent, she holds a sash in her lowered left hand. The sash passes behind her back, probably to be held aloft in her right hand, now separated. She wears a chiton, a rectangular sheet folded at the top to create a large overhang, then wrapped around the left side of the body and pinned at the shoulders. Belted high above her waist, the fabric cascades in deep folds.

Object facts

• Title: Dancer
• Date: c. 50 BCE
• Culture: Greece, Alexandria(?)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: marble
• Dimensions: Overall: 85.4 cm (33 5/8 in.); Base: 6.8 x 32.2 cm (2 11/16 x 12 11/16 in.); without base: 78.6 cm (30 15/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1965.24

A detail from the museum

Three nonjoining fragments, including a right hand and arm, may belong to this statuette.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Golden Anniversary Acquisition,” 1965, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• Stechow, Wolfgang. "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." Artnews 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 30-64. Published as: Standing Girl.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.