Thronende Muttergöttin

The woman sits on a throne with a small child. She carries a floor-length robe, and is bejeweled with a throat-chain. The long hair falls onto her hair and is decked with a polos.(crown). She holds in her arms a small child lying on her abdomen. The child is wrapped in a blanket and wears a bonnet on its head, The throne and robe show the remains of the red paint.The many representations of women with children, are closely connected to the fertility cult of the Paphos Aphrodite and form a tradition from the Bronze Age up to the Roman period. These statuettes, popular since ancient times -- showing a sitting woman with child in her arms resting on her womb -- tend to show a Mother-Food Goddess (Kourotrophos). This motif, whose inspiration is Isis with Horus (Egypt) or Cybele (Asia Minor), continues to exists as the Christian Madonna. These mass-produced votive offerings represent a religious popular art.

A. Bernhard-Walcher u.a., Die Sammlung zyprischer Antiken im KHM. Sammlungskataloge des KHM Bd. 2, Wien 1999