Marble female figure

Technical analysis: Multiband imaging, optical microscopy
The head, part of the neck, and the front of the left foot are missing from this fine, white-grained marble figure, which was broken across the middle of the neck and the waist, the latter repaired. A shallow groove, curved at the front and v-shaped at the back, delineates the base of the cylindrical neck from the torso. The figure’s angular and projecting shoulders slope downward into the low-relief arms, with no indication of fingers. The arms, folded left over right, support low-relief rounded breasts, and sit above a long, narrow abdomen. Deeply incised grooves delineate the pubic triangle with a tiny notch for the vagina. A deep incision defines the attached legs at the front and back. The knees are slightly bent, and the feet are arched. The right foot is chipped with vertical strokes to indicate five toes. A vertical shallow groove indicates the spine on the flat back and separates the top of the slightly protruding buttocks at the rear.

The scattered accretions over the surface, some of which have a reddish appearance, appear random and not remnants of painted decoration. The surface has numerous fine scratches likely due to cleaning, as well as deeper striations that appear to be from manufacture. A surface coating may have been applied to reduce the appearance of the scratches.


Georgios Gavalas, Sandy MacGillivray, Dorothy Abramitis and Elizabeth Hendrix