On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

Marble female figure

Cycladic

ca. 2700–2500 BCE

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 151

Technical analysis: Multiband imaging, optical microscopy
This fine-grained, white marble figure is complete, the left foot detached, except for chips on the heel of the right, and mended breaks at the knees and base of the neck. The backward-tilted head is lyre-shaped with a rounded chin, flat crown, and small triangular nose carved in relief at the center of the facial plane. The long narrow cylindrical neck is delineated from the head by a curved shallow groove at front and back. A similarly shallow groove, curved at the front and v-shaped at the back, delineates the neck from the torso. The shoulders are pronounced, angular and slightly sloping. Arms are folded tightly left over right above the abdomen and below the gently rounded breasts carved in low relief. Short shallow incisions describe four fingers on the left hand and five on the right. A shallow incision below a swollen abdomen indicates the beginning of the pubic triangle. The figure has wide, well-rounded hips, bent knees and slightly arched legs delineated by a deep vertical groove at the front and back. Shallow horizontal grooves describe the knees and ankles, and slight incisions delineate five toes on the extant foot. The ankles are connected and the foot splays outward. At the back of the figure, a shallow vertical groove defines the spine and the separation of the slightly protruding buttocks.

There are traces of three or more connected lozenge or almond shapes visible in a pitting pattern across the top of the forehead, perhaps depicting a diadem. Ghost traces of a squared-off coiffure are visible around the back of the head and of a single long lock of hair along the left side. UV light examination revealed pale almond shapes at the center of the neck, the top center of the chest, and at the top of the left arm.

Georgios Gavalas, Sandy MacGillivray, Dorothy Abramitis and Elizabeth Hendrix