Introduction

How do you think the text and image relate to each other in these objects, what do they tell you about the representations of women shown in each? Can you identify ways in which each image relates to the function of its object? Can you identify any content or subject matter that the objects have in common?

How does the figuring of the female body in each image – how her body is shaped, what parts of her body you see and what parts you don’t, which parts are emphasized – give meaning to that image? What signs or attributes of identity do you see in each image, and how do they shape your understanding of the woman represented there? How do you think they convey the role(s) she is playing in the image?

How can you relate these images to the idea of the female figure as allegory?