The Flickr Peplos Image Generatr

The young woman leans against the framing pilaster of her grave stele in a pose that may have been inspired by a famous contemporary statue of Aphrodite. Like the child with doves on the stele found on Paros (acc. no. 27.45, displayed in the same gallery at the Met), the little girl wears an ungirt peplos that is open at the side. Her hair is cut short in mourning. She holds a jewel box and may be a younger sister of the deceased or a household slave.

Greek, Attic, ca. 400-390 BCE, pentelic marble.

Met Museum, New York (36.11.1)

This pair of terracotta altars (see the other image for the second one) depicts the death of Adonis, a god of vegetation, and the rituals that were celebrated in his honor. On this altar,three female figures, depicted with their faces in profile and their bodies in three-quarter view, walk rapidly to the right over rocky ground. The hands of the outer women clasp the other about her shoulders as they move in apparent procession. Each figure is wearing a peplos that shows the form of the body beneath. The woman in the middle has a sakkos on her head and carries an eleven-part sistrum (percussion instrument) with both hands, while her companion on the right is holding a tympanon (drum) with her left hand. The hair of the flanking figures is short and curly, and they all wear hoop earrings with pendants. Pigments were applied over a layer of yellowish diluted clay and white slip. Preserved are traces of red (hair of the figure on the left), reddish brown (drapery of the figure on left), and green (musical instrument of the figure in the middle and drapery of the figure on the right).

On the other altar, Adonis, looking weak, sits supported in the arms of his lover Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Adonis was born of an incestuous love between the Assyrian king Theias and his daughter Myrrha; Aphrodite was smitten by the infant Adonis's great beauty and hid him in a box (cista), which she entrusted to Persephone. When Persephone opened the box, she too fell in love with the beautiful infant and decided not to give him back to Aphrodite. Zeus interceded in the quarrel between the two goddesses and ordered that Adonis should spend a third of the year with Aphrodite, a third with Persephone, and the last third wherever he liked— Adonis chose to devote that time to Aphrodite as well.

Greek (South Italian), from Calabria, Italy, ca. first quarter of the 4th century BCE.

Getty Villa Museum (86.AD.598.1)

The gentle gravity of this child is beautifully expressed through her sweet farewell to her pet doves. Her peplos is unbelted and falls open at the side, while the folds of drapery clearly reveal her stance. Many of the most skillful stone carvers came from the Cycladic Islands, where marble was plentiful. The sculptor of this stele could have been among the artists who congregated in Athens during the third quarter of the 5th century BCE to decorate the Parthenon.

Greek, ca. 450-440 BCE. Parian marble.

Height: 31 3/4 in. (80.6 cm)
Width (top): 14 9/16 in. (37 cm)
Width (base): 15 1/2 × 4 in., 131 lb. (39.4 × 10.2 cm, 59.4 kg)

Met Museum, New York (27.45)

The integration of three-dimensional figures into the design of a functional object is a hallmark of Greek art. A variety of elements–human, animal, and mythological–animate this mirror disk. A statuette of a woman standing on a base supports the mirror. Her simple woolen peplos falls in columnar folds. Her serious expression and quiet stance are typical of the restrained early Classical statues that were created from about 480 to 450 BCE. Two winged Erotes hover about her head. A hound chases a hare up either side of the disk; a siren, part bird and part woman, perches on the top.

Greek, Argive, mid-5th century BCE.

Met Museum, New York (1972.118.78)