Marble female figure

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


This reclining female figure with a flat back and bent knees is complete except for the restored proper left foot with mends at the neck and the proper right ankle. Its bold, lyre-shaped head is tilted back with a flat crown, broad chin, and a long prominent nose carved in high relief and slightly askew. The long upward tapering neck is marked off from the torso by a thin, shallow, curved incision. Rounded, sloping shoulders curve into the upper arms that project fully at the sides. Sharp vertical incisions delineate the upper arms from the torso, and three horizontal lines indicate the disproportionately long, thin forearms. The latter are folded left over right above a slightly rounded belly and below the broad chest with widely-placed, conical breasts carved in low relief. Thin incisions define the pubic triangle at the base of the belly and tops of the thighs. The deeply incised vulva merges into a deep groove that defines the co-joined legs with bent knees and splayed feet, each with five finely incised toes pointing downward. The back of the torso is flat and quite smooth down to the lower buttocks where the legs begin to bend forward. A single vertical incision, slightly askew, denotes the spine. Very similar in style and proportions to a figure in Berlin. (1)


The very fine-grained (maximum grain size ≈ 0.5 mm), homeoblastic white marble surface shows minimal weathering with ochre-colored calcium carbonate accretions, many in the shape of rootlets, and containing fine particles of iron oxides and black char.


Sandy MacGillivray, Dorothy Abramitis and Federico Carò


(1) See, Thimme, Jürgen ed. 1977. Art and Culture of the Cyclades: Handbook of an Ancient Civilisation. cat. no. 187, p. 473, Karlsruhe: C. F. Müller.