Marble female figure

Technical analysis: Multiband imaging, optical microscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy
This fine-grained white marble figure is complete except for a missing section of the left leg that includes the knee and upper calf, which has been replaced with restoration. Horizontal breaks at the neck, waist, both knees, and the proper left ankle have been mended. The backward-tilted head is lyre-shaped with a rounded chin, flattened crown, and wide triangular low relief nose set in the middle of the face. There is evidence of paint ghosts for a set of double eyes with pupils (one above the other), with the right set a little easier to discern. There is no evidence for hair or polos ghosts on the back of the head. The long cylindrical neck is delineated from the torso by a shallow incised groove that is curved at the front and v-shaped at the back. The figure has sloping rounded shoulders with arms delineated by shallow incisions folded left over right close to the torso, below a flat chest and above a long and narrow abdomen. There is no indication of fingers. Shallow incised grooves delineate the tops of the thighs at the front with no indication of the pubic triangle. The joined legs are indicated by deeply incised grooves at the front and back. The flat back is plain with flat buttocks. The knees are bent with downward pointed outsplayed arched feet, each with faint incisions to indicate five toes.


The surface of the figure exhibits a complex and heterogeneous weathering, possibly the result of multiple conservation and restoration treatments. Raman spectroscopy identified scattered and rare particles of cinnabar on the surface, as well as contamination from modern pigments.


Georgios Gavalas, Sandy MacGillivray, Dorothy Abramitis, Linda Borsch, Federico Carò, and Elizabeth Hendrix