When thinking of high points of architectural decoration in terracotta, my mind usually veers West to Sicily and Southern Italy. Big mistake, bozo! Consider this spectacular wing hailing from Delphi…
In keeping with the logical tradition of having flying divinities and creatures alighting on the roofs of sacred buildings, the wing belongs to an acroterion of the 6th century B.C. Athena Pronaia. She is Nike, harbinger of victory, or perhaps Iris, colorful messenger of the Olympians and is approximately life-sized. Even intended for such lofty heights the details are extraordinary with a creamy slip on the tender skin of her arm enveloped in her chiton’s delightfully crinkly sleeve and set off against wildly colorful scales and flight feathers.
It’s hard to say the extent to which visitors below would have been able to discern these details (old debate…). But that impulse towards encrusting sacred and public buildings with colorful sculpture was an enduring feature of Greek sanctuaries must have packed a hefty visual punch – so very difficult to fathom today when wandering among their stripped down marble bones…
