Baker at the Oven Terracotta Figurine in the Louvre, June 2013

Boeotian “genre subjects” in the 6th century BC.

Numerous Boeotian tombs from the Archaic period have yielded up delightful figurines illustrating scenes from daily life. The subjects represented range from cooking and teaching to riding and animal scenes, some of them highly picturesque (see display-case 7). These “genre scenes”, which were mainly designed for funerary purposes, were particularly widespread in Boeotia by 550 BC, before disappearing under that form around 480–470. The faces, which by that date were exclusively cast from moulds and were used for male and female figures alike, show little variation, whereas the bodies and accessories, which were modelled directly in clay and applied to a base, show great diversity. The liveliness of these figures will have been further enhanced by their originally having been painted in bright matt colours.

Baker at the oven
C. 525–475 BC
Provenance: Tanagra
H. 10 cm; L. 17 cm; W. 8 cm

The baker is about to place the two loaves on the tray next to her in the oven. Parts of the sculpture, which was made to accompany the deceased, were probably fired a second time, giving it an overall greyish appearance.

Lebègue gift, 1875
Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities
MNB 812

Text from: cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=6935&langue=en