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Female Donor

HADB 330Inv. MG 17304Tapa Kalān
Tapa KalānFigureStuccoModelling
Figure in Stucco: Female Donor, Tapa Kalān, Hadda
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Photo by Jules Barthoux ©GrandPalaisRmn - Guimet Museum

Gallery (2)
Tapa Kalān

Location

Tapa Kalān67

Description

The hairstyle of this female donor is particularly refined: on her forehead is a diadem of pearls, decorated with large flowers or palmettes at the temples. The hair or part of the turban is arranged in a fan-folded palmette, held in place by a braid of hair or fabric forming a knot. The entire hairstyle is covered with a veil. She wears heavy discs as earrings. The face is idealised and slightly smiling.

Restored on her bust in the Guimet Museum, we notice that her long veil falls down to cover the forearm. She wore a necklace and a very thin, almost transparent chiton, covering only one shoulder and emphasizing the chest, whose volume is all the more marked because of the particularly thin waist. The fabric is pleated at the bust, while at the skirt, marked below the waist by a band, perhaps a thin belt, it is smooth. The female donor carries a small circular mirror in her left hand, and a hand can be seen resting on her left shoulder. This figure probably belonged to a donor couple.

Observations

The head measures 12 cm.

1928 / today

Female Donor
Female Donor
1928Today

Excavation photograph by Jules Barthoux (1928) juxtaposed with a recent photograph by Alexandra Vanleene.

Comparative study

The appearance of this donor can be compared to that of Nanda's neglected wife in the episode relating to his conversion.

Characteristics

Technique

Modelling

Material

Stucco

Object type

Figure

Site

Tapa Kalān - 67

Conservation location

Guimet Museum

Museum inventory No.

MG 17304

Traces of polychromy

No

Restoration

In the laboratory

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