Venus figurines

Venus (sometimes lowercase) Archaeology. a statuette of a female figure, usually carved of ivory and typically having exaggerated breasts, belly, or buttocks, often found in Upper Paleolithic cultures from Siberia to France. Origin: < class="ital-inline">Venus, s. Vener- orig. a neut. common n. meaning “physical desire, sexual appetite,” hence “qualities exciting desire, seductiveness, charm,” “a goddess personifying sexual attractiveness”; c. Skt vanaḥ desire.

If you have taken a chronological art history course, the lectures probably began with the Venus of Willendorf (2nd photo). Since she was found, more than 100 "venus figurines" have been discovered. Because many have exaggerated breasts, hips, vulva, and abdomen and follow certain artistic and stylistic conventions, they are believed to have been symbolic of fertility - although some suggest that they were portraits or pornography. Above and below are a few examples:

1. This female fired-clay figurine is from Cucuteni, Drăguşeni, in the Lower Danube Valley and dates to 4050-3900 B.C. These common “goddess” figurines were originally interpreted as evidence of the spiritual and political power of women in the culture of Old Europe: "Many of the figurines represent women in stylized abstraction, with truncated or elongated bodies and heaping breasts and expansive hips. The explicit sexuality of these figurines invites interpretations relating to earthly and human fertility." They are among many sculptures and architectural models found in graves, domestic shrines, and other sacred spaces.
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2. Venus of Willendorf is a 4.5" statuette dating from 24,000-22,000 B.C. found in 1908 in present-day Austria. It was carved from limestone that was not local to the area and tinted with red ochre. It has been considered an idealization of the female figure, and similar statuettes have been called "venus figurines," although they predate the Greek mythological figure by millennia.

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3. Venus of Hohle Fels was found in fragments in a cave near Schelklingen, Germany, in September 2008. Dating to approximately 36,000 years B.P., it is the oldest undisputed example of figurative prehistoric art and is presumed to be an amulet related to fertility which could have been worn as a pendant. The 2.4" figurine was carved of woolly mammoth tusk and would have taken tens of hours (if not more) to complete.

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4. This marble female figurine with folded arms is typical of Cycladic II sculpture of the Syros culture in ancient Greece, dating from 2800 to 2300 B.C. Such idols have been interpreted as representations of the Great Mother, goddesses of fertility, or figures of revered ancestors or divine nursemaids.

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5. These Mesopotamian female figurines were found in the city of Akkad in what is today Iraq. They date from 2334-2147 B.C.E.

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6. Venus of Dolní Věstonice was discovered in a layer of ash in July 1925 in what is now the Czech Republic. Dating to between 29,000 and 25,000 B.C.E., it is the oldest known ceramic in the world. Measuring 4.4" tall, it had broken into 2 pieces. When it underwent tomography in 2004, the fingerprint of a child - unlikely to have been the statuette's maker - was found fired into the surface. Here you can see the reverse.

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7. This painted terracotta figure was modeled in clay, dried in the sun, and then painted in several colors, with patterns that may represent tattoos or jewelry. It was made in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey) in the late fifth millennium B.C.E. and is 4 1/8" tall.

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Note: B.C. = before Christ, B.C.E. = before Christian era, B.P. = before present