The ancient Greek limestone statue from the 7th century BC in the Louvre is the Lady of Auxerre.
Also called the Kore of Auxerre, the small statue is a Cretan example of early Archaic Greek sculpture. It stands about 75 centimeters tall and probably dates from roughly 650–625 BC. The figure may represent a goddess, a worshipper or a deceased woman, and its exact identity remains uncertain.
The statue is named after the French city of Auxerre, where Louvre curator Maxime Collignon found it in a museum storage room in 1907. Its earlier history is unknown. Scholars generally associate it with Crete, and later archaeological discoveries around Eleutherna and Gortyn helped strengthen that attribution.
The Lady of Auxerre preserves traces of painted decoration, a reminder that ancient Greek sculpture was often brightly colored rather than plain white. Its rigid frontal pose, patterned hair and enigmatic “archaic smile” reflect the transitional style of the period, when Greek artists were moving away from older geometric traditions toward more naturalistic representation. It should not be confused with the Hera of Samos or other Greek korai.