Marble female figure

Technical analysis: Multiband imaging, optical microscopy, X-ray radiography, Raman spectroscopy
This fine-grained, white marble figure is complete except for the front of the right foot and the area between the ankles, which have been restored, and the horizontal breaks at both knees and in the left ankle that have been mended. The backward-tilted head is lyre-shaped with a rounded chin, a high crown that is flat at the top, and a relatively short acquiline nose carved in relief. A straight band across the forehead visible as differential weathering could be the ghost of a headdress or hairline. A curved incision delineates the top of the thick cylindrical neck and another the bottom. The latter widens into a V-shaped groove at the back. Relative to the head and neck, the torso and legs are wide and compact.(1) Slightly rounded shoulders slope toward the plastically rendered, almost dough-like arms that are folded left over right below a rounded bosom that gives the impression of being compressed upward. There is no indication of a pubic triangle or genitalia, only a deep vertical groove that delineates the joined thighs. The figure’s shapely calves are carved as separate and then join again at the ankles. The feet splay outward and arch downward with no indication of toes. The back of the torso is relatively flat with a wide shallow groove indicating the spine. From the buttocks down, concave and convex areas define the subtle rise of the bottom buttocks, the backs of the bent knees, the fullness of the calves, and the back of the arched feet.


Most of the surface is eroded along grain boundaries. There are patches of brown accretions, some in the shape of rootlets. Above the bridge of the nose is an arched groove, the result of eroded grains along the bedding plane. Traces of red pigment over the weathered left upper edge of the neck near the chin have been identified as hematite. Raman analysis of the red and orange particles on the back of the figure proved problematic but suggests that they are likely Fe-oxide-hydroxides. Technical analysis of a bright red streak on the left side of the face was inconclusive but suggests that the pigment is modern.

Georgios Gavalas, Dorothy Abramitis, Federico Carò and Elisabeth Hendrix


(1) Getz-Gentle attributes this figure to her Karo sculptor, named for archaeologist Georg Karo, on the basis of its broad and robust form with a soft and rounded quality. See, Getz-Gentle, Pat. 2001. Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture. pp. 70-71, and 156[1], pls. 60a, 61, a1, and a2, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.