Marble female figure

Technical analysis: Multiband imaging, X-ray radiography, optical microscopy, Raman


This reclining female figure of the Spedos type is complete except for its head which was broken off at the base of the neck, the front of the right foot which is restored. A break at the right knee was mended and there are minor fills in the right shoulder and left knee. It has broad, sloping shoulders, widely-spaced conical breasts in relief, and tapered fingerless forearms folded left over right above a smooth belly. Incised lines define the pubic triangle that extends the width of the hips. A deep, sharp, vertical groove beginning at the base of the pubic area delineates the flatly rendered legs that separate from the slightly bent knees down. Wide, angular, arched feet splay out at the ankles and four incised lines on each foot define the toes. (1) The upper back of the figure is carved relatively flat down to the lower buttocks where the legs begin to bend forward. A single, thinly incised line, denoting the spine, begins near the nape and continues into the deeply incised groove that separates the legs.


The figure is carved from a fine-grained (maximum grain size ≈ 1 mm), heteroblastic white marble. The surface displays a range of different weathering typologies, varying from a textured surface of dissolved calcite grains, to a relatively thick calcareous accretion masking the calcite grains. Few red particles on the stomach were identified as cinnabar, while other blue and red pigment particles scattered on the surface are associated to modern interventions.


Sandy MacGillivray, Dorothy Abramitis and Federico Carò


(1) For similar figures, see Getz-Preziosi, Pat. 1987. Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections. nos. 48 and 55, Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.