The Spinning Aphrodite in Sculpture

Abstract

The Heyl Collection in Berlin includes (pl. 63, fig. i) one of the most charming terracotta figures from Myrina,1 one whose rhythm of line is more attractive, in its dynamic flow, than that of the Melian Aphrodite, whose thrust and counterthrust have achieved a most subtle and convincing balance; the loss of the right leg below the knee makes her position seem precarious. An irresistible undulating line along a diagonal direction, beginning at the right foot and crossing over to the position of the left hand, serves as a leitmotif of this musical pattern; it rises rather modestly to the left thigh and then repeats itself in increasingly exuberant crescendos until it exhausts itself over the right arm and left breast. The body, without being strained, bends outward at the right hip, achieves only a momentary perpendicular below the right arm where it glides off again to the left, culminating in the head as it bends down to the right. One cannot escape the impression that this figure is a reduced version of a larger and striking monumental piece. The dress of the figure, the stephane and the bracelet on the left arm point to an identification with the Heavenly Aphrodite. The raised left shoulder suggests an attempt to keep the object in the left hand at a given height, regardless of the movement on the right side which, as the back view indicates, was forward and downward, as the right hand and arm moved away from and then back to the left hand. These are the movements required of the upper body of a standing spinner actually engaged in spinning. The attention of the head need not be directed to a task so familiar it has become