Kore / Korai

"Marker of Phrasikleia
I could be called kore (maiden)
for ever instead of wedded
by the gods thus being named
[Aris]tion of Paros created me"
(Translated by Thomas Sakoulas)

“Phrasikleia holds a lotus at its breast by way of symbol of its continued and eternally unplucked state. Like the words of the inscription, the rosettes below each breast, and the additional lotuses, alternately half-open and closed, that wreathe the maiden's crown signal a blossoming into womanhood even as they affirm that this floraison has yet to occur. Together the different elements cohere in making the metonymic representation a visualization of the maiden in her social role, preserving her at the very threshold of the marriage to which she could once have aspired. ”, Deborah Tarn Steiner