The Cleveland Museum of Art has provided the ARTstor image database with reproductions of a beautiful Etruscan statue that was created around the 3rd or 2nd Century BCE. Entitled Patera Support: Lasa, this bronze sculpture of a winged woman, about 21.6 centimeters high, represents a mysterious figure in Etruscan mythology.

Her delicate, feminine wings, detailed with small feathers, are spread and a decorative tray rests upon them and the figure’s head. The detailing of the shelf makes it appear as though it has been separated into four quarters. The curved lines of the top and bottom mirror each other and emerge diagonally from a line the runs horizontally across it. This gives the appearance of two leaves perfectly positioned opposite of each other. Emerging from both sides of the tray are protruding, open blossoms. It appears the leaves that make up the shelf are suspended between these floral rods.

The figure’s hair is loosely attached at the back of her head, which we can see from the way her head is positioned at three-quarters. Her dark eyes are focused intently, but otherwise her turned head shows only an unremarkable, expressionless face. Her gaze is directed to a mirror she holds up in her left hand.

The woman’s shoulders lean to the left, from where we see folds of drapery extend to the right side of her waist. She wears two necklaces; one is a plain band and the other is decorated by pointed triangles, which may indicate leaves. We see a series of bands decorating the upper right arm. She is otherwise nude, her shapely legs twisted so that her right toe is gently set behind her left foot. Sandals that strap at the ankles cover her feet. They rest upon an almost equilateral triangular base, with vertical flutes decorating the frontal side edge.

From behind, however, we see the statue may not have been created to be seen in the round. While certain elements remain detailed, others appear to be smooth and done only well enough to be presentable. The uppermost part is the most elaborate and would have attached to the damaged and missing parts of the sculpture. The underside of the jagged ridge we saw from the front is here a beautiful flower with thin petals curling inward. It rests on two clearly represented leaves

The waves of the figure’s hair are held by a band that runs across the base of the skull, as wel as a knot in the shape of a knob at the back of her neck. A few loose tresses cascade onto her upper back. The wings maintain the outer shape as seen from the front, but in the back have no feather detailing whatsoever. They connect smoothly to the figure’s shoulder blades.

We may have some indication of drapery moving from her waist at the left, or that could be a line created from her hair. There are a series of shapes and lines that show prominently on her left buttock, down her right leg, and behind her right knee. The limitations of analyzing an art piece from a photograph are now a hindrance, for these could be flaws in the bronze, writings explaining the use of this sculpture, or different kinds of jewelry along with draping robes but we cannot tell without closer observation of the sculpture.

We do clearly see how her right sandal is fastened to her ankle with straps. We also see that this edge of the triangular base of the statue is not fluted as the one on front side, looking instead like it is decorated with indentations.

Sculptures from the Italic Archaic Period were often made of terracotta, like the Sarcophagus with reclining couple from Cerveteri. While their faces seem like caricatures with their slanted eyes and de-emphasized legs, their open and expressive faces along with the interaction between them show that the Etruscans were skilled sculptors very early on. Patera Support: Lasa shows how their style evolved after having been taken over by Greece. They began using bronze during this period, and the figures show the idealized form of the Greeks. Her twisted, spiral-like posture resembles Myron’s Discus Thrower. Both poses show off the figures’ lovely bodies in exaggerated use of contrapposto, but would naturally be uncomfortable and impractical.

Other elements of this sculpture, however, are clearly Etruscan and lead us to the debated issue of the definition of ‘lasa’. While sometimes considered a goddess of fate, more than one are often portrayed and are sometimes in the service of another Goddess. Defining a lasa as an attendant to more powerful gods and goddesses seems fitting, considering that the described sculpture is the base of a patera, a cup used to offer libations in ritual. The priests and priestesses would appropriately be making offerings with an image of an attendant, symbols of their own roles.

There are no absolute defining attributes for lasa, though they are often portrayed with wings and defined footwear. In Patera Support she holds a mirror which may also correctly identify her as a lasa, considering many of these winged women were carved into the back of a number of Etruscan bronze mirrors. In Mirror Engraved with Flute-Player we see many familiar elements: the winged lasa wearing sandals, flowers with thin petals. She is wearing bands on wrists instead of around her upper arms.

Close to the handle of the mirror we see a woman’s face whose hair is decorated with triangular shapes. Both she and the Patera lasa wear these simple wreaths, another possible symbol for these mysterious and debated-upon beings.

Bibliography


Bonfante, Larissa. “Book Reviews: ‘Lasa. Iconografia e esegesi.’ Antonia Rallo.”
American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 81, No. 1. (Winter, 1977): 125.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9114(197724)81:1<125:LIEE>2.0.CO;2-8
(accessed October 24, 2006).