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Source Description
The maidens are playing an ancient form of jacks, known as "astragalus" (knucklebones), a game in which five small animal bones were tossed into the air and caught on the back of the hand. The grouping of separate statuettes is almost unknown before Hellenistic times, when artists became fascinated both by the interaction of figures and by the challenge of representing complex poses, such as this crouching stance.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
77404
label
Crouching Women Playing Knucklebones
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
https://purl.thewalters.org/art/VO.19 (48.303, 48.304)
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
77404
sourceUrl
https://purl.thewalters.org/art/VO.19 (48.303, 48.304)
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Crouching Women Playing Knucklebones
description
The maidens are playing an ancient form of jacks, known as "astragalus" (knucklebones), a game in which five small animal bones were tossed into the air and caught on the back of the hand. The grouping of separate statuettes is almost unknown before Hellenistic times, when artists became fascinated both by the interaction of figures and by the challenge of representing complex poses, such as this crouching stance.
provenance
Hirsch Sale, June 30-July 2, 1921, no. 132; Arthur Sambon, Paris (?), 1924; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1924, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 330-100 BC (Hellenistic)
citationUrl
https://purl.thewalters.org/art/VO.19 (48.303, 48.304)
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
figurines
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
14.5
height
10.7
depth
6.7
dimensionsRaw
H: 5 11/16 x W: 4 3/16 x D: 2 5/8 in. (14.5 x 10.7 x 6.7 cm)
Source extras
cul
Greek
med
terracotta
creator_ids
6256
collection_ids
GRC
exhibition_ids
none
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
6251293d86dfae59