Old Nurse Holding a Baby Terracotta Figurine in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, January 2018

Old nurse holding a baby
Greek
Early Hellenistic Period
about 325–300 B.C.

Medium/Technique: Terracotta

Dimensions Overall: 12.5 x 5.5 x 5.5 cm (4 15/16 x 2 3/16 x 2 3/16 in.)

Credit Line: Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution

Accession Number: 01.7842

Collections: Ancient Greece and Rome

Classifications: Sculpture

Description: Statuette of an old nurse holding a baby. White on flesh and cap of nurse, as well as on base; red on hair of nurse and baby; pale blue on chiton.

Label text:
The affectionate nurse was a character in the "New Comedy" of Menander, and his plays probably inspired figures like this.

Provenance: By 1901: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: Bought in Athens: from Tanagra); purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren, December 1901

Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/151797/old-nurse-holding-a-baby