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

Details

A CYCLADIC MARBLE RECLINING FEMALE FIGURE
EARLY SPEDOS VARIETY, CIRCA 2600-2500 B.C.
Sculpted with a rounded lyre-shaped head, the chin slightly pointed, the slender nose well centered, with a short neck and gently-sloping angled shoulders, the arms folded right below left beneath the prominent breasts, with a truncated midsection, the pubic area defined by the angled tops of the thighs, the legs divided by a deep cleft with a perforation from above the knees to the ankles, the knees indented, the feet angled down and slightly concave on their soles, the back divided by a deep cleft that extends along the spine as a shallow groove to below the shoulders, the buttocks defined by a horizontal incision; preserving traces of red pigment on the base of the neck and chin, with possible pigment "ghosts" for the eyes
8¼ in. (20.9 cm.) long

Provenance

Acquired by Ernst and Hildy Beyeler, Switzerland, 1960s.

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Lot Essay

The sculpture presented here shares some traits with the works of the Bent Sculptor and the Karo Sculptor. According to Getz-Gentle (Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture, pp. 70-71) "both craftsmen favored a broad, robust image, and their work shows some very similar characteristics." All of the known examples by the Bent Sculptor and most by the Karo Sculptor are modest in scale, as here. Closest in style is the name-piece for the Bent Sculptor, now in the British Museum, acquired from J.T. Bent, who excavated it on Antiparos (pl. 58b in Getz-Gentle, op. cit.).

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