Sculpture*The Met Store Veiled Dancer Sculpture

Our bonded-bronze reproduction is based on an original Greek statuette in the Museum’s collection believed to be from the third–second century B.C. that shows the expressive qualities of a swirling dancer’s drapery. The woman’s face is covered by the sheerest of veils, discernible at its edge below her hairline and at the cutouts for the eyes. Her extended right foot shows a laced slipper. This dancer has been convincingly identified as a depiction of one of the professional entertainers, a combination of mime and dancer, for which the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria was famous in antiquity.