Kore

kore, plural korai, type of freestanding statue of a maiden—the female counterpart of the kouros, or standing youth—that appeared with the beginning of Greek monumental sculpture in about 660 bc and remained to the end of the Archaic period in about 500 bc. Over this period the kore remained essentially the same, although, as in all Greek art, it evolved from a highly stylized form to a more naturalistic one.

Basically, the kore is a draped female figure—carved from marble and originally painted—standing erect with feet together or sometimes with one foot, usually the left, slightly advanced. The arms are sometimes down at the sides, but in most cases one is brought up closely across the front of the body or is extended, holding an offering; the other is lowered, often clasping a fold of drapery.

In the earliest korai, the bodies are so blocklike that they hardly seem to represent feminine form, the most artistically interesting feature being the bold patterns formed by the grooves of the drapery. Later, the drapery became more fluid, with a greater variation in the folds gained by having one hand of the kore pull the drapery tightly across thighs and buttocks. The garments worn by the kore figures changed from the heavy tunic, or peplos, to the lighter, more graceful chiton, also a tunic; the Ionian himation, a short, pleated mantle; and the epiblēma, a shawllike wrap. All the garments displayed pattern, either on borders or as single ornaments scattered over larger areas.

The representation of the figure’s hair evolved also, from the early solid mass hanging at the sides and back of the head to the separation of the top and sides into tresses. The faces of early korai wear the Archaic smile, a rather artificial grimace achieved by sculpting the corners of the mouth with an upward turn; the kore’s expression eventually became a fairly relaxed half-smile.

Like the kouros, the kore type was inspired by Egyptian and, to a lesser degree, Mesopotamian art; prototypes for the stance of the Greek maidens are found particularly in statues and statuettes of the Egyptian New Kingdom. In Egyptian and some Mesopotamian statues can be seen the same renderings of parallel, slanting, and radiating folds and ridges, as well as the archlike hemline that allows the feet to protrude.

Exactly what the kore represents is unknown. Those found in temples, in Samos, for example, or on the Acropolis, did not have the attributes necessary to identify them as representations of the goddesses associated with those places. Because many of the figures seem to be gesturing in a manner suggestive of offering or gratitude, interpreters surmise that the korai were intended mainly as representations of young girls in the service of goddesses.