Marble female figure

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





This white marble, tripartite female standing figure is complete with mended breaks and restored losses. It has a bird-like head, a long nearly conical neck, and its body is comprised of two differently worked parts: a thin upper torso and a voluminous, nearly cylindrical, lower part. Curved pointed shoulders join two curvilinear, flat arms to form a circle separated from the torso by nearly circular gaps. They seem to meet in a thickened area at the lower part of the flat belly. A deep vertical groove down the middle of the chest delineates the two oval shapes in high relief that represent breasts. The lower part of the figure is thick, ellipsoidal and rounded. A long vertical incision delineates the two legs, and a horizontal line incised across it indicates the knees. At the back, an especially rounded volume at the top of the lower thicker part describes the buttocks; a deep vertical incision there divides the legs.


Although this unique combination of schematic and naturalistic elements in a standing marble female figurine indicates that the object requires further analysis, various arguments have been made for its incorporation into the corpus of Neolithic figurines from the Aegean.


Some of its features, such as the bird-like head and tripartite form, have been noted in other figures. Within the Stern Collection of Cycladic Art, L.2022.38.67 is one such example of a standing figure with a bird-like head, as is figure L.2022.38.21. L.2022.38.131 is also a standing figure.

The surface of the figure is covered with a thin reddish-brown accretion over the front, and thicker, beige-colored accretion on the back. The surface is also quite weathered with scattered traces of adhesives and abrasions at the nose, cheek, arms, waist and back. A mended horizontal break across the waist and arms, and associated losses and repairs at both arms are visible under ultraviolet illumination and in X-ray images. Repairs where the arms join the shoulders are less easy to distinguish. Cracks in the fill material on the back of the left arm indicate that this area is quite fragile. Particles of hematite, black char and other silicates, likely associated with the burial environment, are present on the surface of the figure and embedded in the accretion, while numerous bright blue and red particles scattered on the surface have been identified as synthetic pigments and interpreted as modern contaminations.

Georgios Gavalas, Dorothy Abramitis, Linda Borsch, and Federico Carò