Lady of Auxerre

The small limestone Lady of Auxerre, (or Kore of Auxerre) at the Louvre Museum, Paris, is an archaic Greek goddess of ca 650 - 625 BCE. She is a Kore ("maiden") perhaps the maiden Goddess Persephone.

She was found in a storage vault in the Museum of Auxerre, near Paris, in 1909, when a curator from the Louvre caught sight of her. No provenance is known.

She dates from the time when Greece was emerging from its Dark Age. She still has the narrow waist of a Minoan-Mycenaean goddess, and her stiff hair suggests Egyptian influence. The style has been termed "Daedalic." Her secret, knowing and serene hint of a smile is often characterized as the "archaic smile."