Female Figure

This statuette was probably made in the high plains of northwestern Iran, just south of the Caspian Sea. Similar ones have been found in burial sites such as Amlash and Marlik. It represents a nude woman, standing with feet apart and her short arms extended in what has sometimes been interpreted as a gesture of worship. The prominent nose might evoke a bird’s beak, an association of the human and animal forms that predates the statuette itself. The legs, thick and wide, are positioned low on the body in a way that emphasizes the pubic area and the curvature of the hips, possibly as a metaphor of life and rebirth.