Tanagra figurine

American  

[tan-uh-gruh fig-yuh-reen, ‐-reen, tuh-nag-ruh] / ˈtæn ə grə ˌfɪg yəˌrin, ‐ˈrin, təˈnæg rə /

Often Tanagra figure

noun

1. a small terra-cotta statuette produced from the late 4th to the 3rd century b.c. in Tanagra, Boeotia, and found chiefly in tombs.

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Etymology

Origin of Tanagra figurine

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Her head and profile are sculpted with the exquisite delicacy of a Tanagra figurine.

From Time Magazine Archive

You don’t know any of the romance of the Ming Dynasty or how to tell a Tanagra figurine from a plaster-of-paris shepherdess.

From The Gorgeous Girl by Bartley, Nalbro

Terra cotta, which is afterwards baked, is plastic; and yet becomes hard; thus a Tanagra figurine is an example of plastic art, while a Florentine marble statuette is a product of sculpture.

From Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages A Description of Mediaeval Workmanship in Several of the Departments of Applied Art, Together with Some Account of Special Artisans in the Early Renaissance by Addison, Julia de Wolf Gibbs

It has the daintiness and minute completeness of a Tanagra figurine.

From Contemporary American Composers Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and Compositions by Hughes, Rupert

But only a few weeks ago I had a very bad quarter of an hour indeed over this spurious Tanagra figurine.

From The Patient Observer And His Friends by Strunsky, Simeon