Featured Shipwreck Figurine

Good day
I bought this at thr Milnerton Market in Cape Town today. Apparently it is a shipwreck find but they did not say from where. I am not sure if it is ceramic or stone nore if it is old.
Any information would be appreciated.
Jannie

 

Well, just because someone says it's from a shipwreck doesn't mean it it without some provenance. Doesn't look like ceramic from the photos. Could be stone or even resin. Hard to tell from the photos. Maybe others will have more ideas.

 

Intriguing item. Does it feel cold to the touch, or warm(ish)?

 

It is not resin but could be a stone carving. It has a specific gravity of 2.31.
Jannie

 

Interesting little object. It looks like she may have originally had a head pegged on. According to AI, a specific gravity of 2.31 is within the range of some limestones.

The breaks look more like stone than pottery, but she might be terracotta. She looks quite classical in style. Going out on a limb, here - she looks somewhat similar to Roman era terracotta figures depicting Venus -


https://news.artnet.com/art-world/venus-statue-garbage-dump-brittany-france-inrap-2278066

Ancient Romans did engage in trade along the east African coast as far as Zanzibar and Tanzania.

She is well worn, which could be evidence of erosion in the sea.

 

That goddess looks amazing.

I'm not at all sure about your item. The backside immediately made me think of figures made of white pipe clay so I just wanted to mention them.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum - Article Pipe clay figurines from west Netherlands https://share.google/fX3K8USQeMFwjky7a

My example that made me think of it

 

Given that Jannie found it in South Africa, a Dutch figurine is possible.

I live in the Catholic south of the Netherlands, so I only know the pipe clay madonnas.

 

That would certainly be a closer source. I don't know if the Dutch produced figurines of naked ladies, though.

 

They had no issues with nudity in art, so why not naked pipeclay ladies. Sis' Dutch pipeclay figurine is also naked.

 

Don't know at all about the probability but I was thinking as much of the material and general type as anything.

This one similar to the other Roman goddess is said to be pipeclay.

https://cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/stunning-pipeclay-venus-figurine-from-kings-quarter-gloucester/