Skip Navigation

Female Figure

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Called “Bird Ladies” because of their birdlike heads, these figurines are painted with long white skirts; the remains of black pitch on the heads of a few indicate added hair or wigs. Two types are known—the majority have raised arms, while others have “stub-arms,” which may indicate a flattened version of arms bent below the breasts. Similar Predynastic figures, with more human but featureless round heads, occur on painted pottery made in the same era (an example is on view in the Egyptian galleries on the third floor).

Excavated figurines of both types come from burials. These examples were among sixteen deposited in one tomb. Perhaps they represent goddesses, priestesses, or mourners; their presence in tombs suggests a function connected to the mortuary ritual or the rebirth of the deceased.
MEDIUM Clay, pigment
  • Place Excavated: El Ma’marîya, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 3650 B.C.E.–3300 B.C.E.
    PERIOD Predynastic Period, Naqada II Period
    DIMENSIONS 9 1/4 x 3 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (23.5 x 8.9 x 4.4 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 07.447.500
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Terracotta figurine of a woman, with uplifted arms. Rather small breasts. Flat torso. Long legs, peg-shaped, extremely faintly separated. Buff pottery, painted red on body; white, indicating cloth, from hips down. Condition: Arms repaired at shoulder. Head and neck and arms from elbows on lacking. Foot end damaged. Paint mostly gone.
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Female Figure, ca. 3650 B.C.E.–3300 B.C.E. Clay, pigment, 9 1/4 x 3 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (23.5 x 8.9 x 4.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 07.447.500. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 07.447.500_PS2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 07.447.500_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2008
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.