EARLY SPEDOS VARIETY, EARLY CYCLADIC II, CIRCA 2600-2500 B.C.

Details

A CYCLADIC MARBLE HEAD
EARLY SPEDOS VARIETY, EARLY CYCLADIC II, CIRCA 2600-2500 B.C.
From a large reclining figure, with a thick neck, the lyre-shaped head with a rounded chin and broad cheeks, the long triangular nose well centered, the convex face with a high sloping forehead tapering toward the top and terminating in a sharp-edged flat oval, the ears modelled in relief and indented at their centers, with traces of pigment "ghosts" for the eyes
5 in. (12.7 cm.) high

Provenance

with Uraeus, Paris, prior to 1980.

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Lot Essay

Cycladic figures with their ears carved in relief are comparatively rare. The earliest occurrence can be found on some Plastiras figures and some precanonical figures of circa 2800-2700 B.C., such as the example from the Menil Collection, Houston, no. 19 in P. Getz-Preziosi, Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections. In the following centuries ears are mainly found on large-scale figures, quite frequently with the right ear noticeably lower than the left, as on the head presented here. See for example the three reclining female figures of the Early Spedos variety all attributed to the Karlsruhe/Woodner Sculptor, P. Getz-Gentle, Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture, pp. 74-79, pls. 64-66. On some of the larger Early Spedos figures the ears are only visible in profile or rear view, as with the head presented here. For two other examples see nos. 198 and 199 in J. Thimme, Art and Culture of the Cyclades.

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