Caryatid

Sometimes it may be called a caryatid, which is, as I understand it, a cruel device of architecture, representing a man or a woman, obliged to hold up upon his or her head or shoulders a structure which they did not build, and which could stand just as well without as with them. ❋ Charles Dudley Warner (1864)

Schlossberg, where he performed the function of a kind of caryatid, and looked, in the black of his skin and the white of his flowing costume, like a colossal figure carved in ebony and ivory. ❋ William Dean Howells (1878)

A day or two after Mrs. March had met Mrs. Adding, she went with her husband to revere a certain magnificent blackamoor whom he had discovered at the entrance of one of the aristocratic hotels on the Schlossberg, where he performed the function of a kind of caryatid, and looked, in the black of his skin and the white of his flowing costume, like a colossal figure carved in ebony and ivory. ❋ William Dean Howells (1878)

Eventually the statuesque and barely made-up Helena Pikon, often resembling a caryatid in her straight-and-narrow stance, takes on the persona of a sorrowing Penelope from the "Odyssey" as she makes her mark as something of a loner in this community, often trailing tristesse in her wake. ❋ Robert Greskovic (2010)

The porch on the left is supported by caryatid figures. ❋ James Gurney (2010)

No marble caryatid was as sleek and lovely as her PowerBook. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Nor am I supporting any of the architecture (which, I also learn from Wikipedia, would then properly make me a telemon or atlas, the male version of a caryatid). ❋ Ewillett (2007)

A caryatid, Wikipedia informs me, is "a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head". ❋ Ewillett (2007)

He had the air of a caryatid on a vacation; he carried nothing but his revery, however. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Jean Valjean, who was present, supported the caryatid with his shoulder, and gave the workmen time to arrive. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Having published independent research on Greek statuary, she is currently preparing a manuscript on Greek caryatid mirrors. ❋ Unknown (2006)

I kissed Helena beside the caryatid porch of the Erechtheion. ❋ Davis, Lindsey (2005)

He is a sort of caryatid upon whose shoulders nearly everything that is not grimy is supported. ❋ Unknown (2004)

These shapes have no angles: a caryatid in marble is almost as flexible; a Phidian goddess is not more perfect in a certain still and stately sort. ❋ Unknown (2003)

I see her go for water, and then she comes, the urn upon her shoulder, a living caryatid, and as she passes she permits a splash upon my epaulettes. ❋ De Bernieres, Louis (2003)

The visitor had flopped onto the caryatid-pillared bed. ❋ Lackey, Mercedes (2002)