This beautiful ceramic sculpture is a votive figure from the middle of the first millennium BC, and represents a deity in the Phoenician pantheon. It shows a goddess standing on a plain integral base, a receptacle at her feet, and dressed in a long toga-like robe with a central wide sash. The head is very finely rendered, with large, almond-shaped eyes, a long nose and a slight smile on finely-modelled lips. The style is reminiscent of the Archaic Period Greek statues with which it is roughly contemporary. The back of the piece is almost completely plain, implying that it was always meant to be viewed from the front rather than in the round, which is appropriate for figures destined for shrines. The condition of the piece is excellent, and it retains some calcareous concretions from its long interment in the Mediterranean.

Antiquities
Ancient Near East