A LARGE CYCLADIC MARBLE FEMALE STATUE OF SPEDOS VARIETY

EARLY CYCLADIC II (KEROS-SYROS CULTURE), CIRCA 2500 B.C.

Details

A LARGE CYCLADIC MARBLE FEMALE STATUE OF SPEDOS VARIETY
EARLY CYCLADIC II (KEROS-SYROS CULTURE), CIRCA 2500 B.C.
With characteristic stylized lyre-shaped head curved and flaring at the top, with triangular nose, broad short neck and shoulders, with widely spaced breasts, incised left arm folded across the chest above the right arm, incised pubic triangle, the broad thighs with deep groove separating the legs which are bent slightly at the knees, the foot angled with toes indicated, the reverse with groove down the spine and between the legs, traces of red paint on the neck, chips to tip of nose and upper back of head, repaired at face, neck and foot, left foot missing, with mount
18 in. (46.3 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired in London by the late husband of the deceased owner in 1966.

Lot Essay

This imposing statue belongs to a group of only three others almost certainly by the same sculptor. The hallmarks of this sculptor include the large gap between the incised pubic triangle and the top of the leg cleft; the spinal groove not joining the incised neckline or leg groove; and the rear grooves not aligned. The three parallels include two fragments preserved from the neck to the knees only and a statue in the Norton Simon Collection preserved to the knees. For the Norton Simon statue cf. J. Thimme (ed.), Art and Culture of the Cyclades, Chigaco, 1977, no. 156. For the Keros group, cf. P. Getz-Preziosi, Sculptors of the Cyclades: Individual and Tradition in the Third Millennium B.C., Michigan, 1987, pp. 134-138.

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