A CYCLADIC MARBLE HEAD

Through comparison to complete folded arm female figures, the dimensions of this impressive head suggest the original length of this example would have been nearly 21 in. (55 cm.) long. The style of this Early Spedos head shares many characteristics of figures assigned to the Steiner Sculptor, including the defined triangular nose, the comparatively deep chin, the grooves at the join of the neck and the elegant backward arch of the forehead (compare no. 33 in P. Getz-Preziosi, Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections and pls. 69-70 in P. Getz-Gentle, Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture).

Although rarely preserved, most Cycladic sculpture of the Spedos type would have originally been richly painted in red and blue pigment. This figure is remarkable for its preservation of traces of original red pigment on its cheeks, in a pattern often referred to as a “tattoo” of dots. As Getz-Preziosi contends (p. 53 in Sculptors of the Cyclades: Individual and Tradition in Third Millennium B.C.), this pattern “may reflect the way the faces of the dead were painted for burial.” For other Spedos type figures with similar patterning, see figs. 42f-h.