archaic smile

American  

noun

Fine Arts.

1. a conventional representation of the mouth characterized by slightly upturned corners of the lips, found especially on Greek sculpture produced prior to the 5th century b.c.

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Etymology

Origin of archaic smile

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

In its variations over thousands of years and places, what single thing, if any, did the archaic smile stand for?

From Time Magazine Archive

Even his slightly stupefied "archaic smile," a sculptural convention contrived to animate the face, appears to mark the general awakening.

From Time Magazine Archive

Yourchamber was the steaming Nile!And with your curved archaic smile you watchedhis passion come and go.

From Ballad of Reading Gaol by Wilde, Oscar

We may very likely find also in a similar notion the explanation of a peculiarity often found in early statues of the gods—the well-known archaic smile.

From Religion and Art in Ancient Greece by Gardner, Ernest Arthur