Marble female figure

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





This intact, yet intensely weathered, reclining female figure of white marble is one of the early form of carved figures that became canonical, namely reclining female figures with folded arms. This statue represents an early stage in that development known as the Kapsala type with slender and elongated proportions with strongly modelled contours. The head is almond-shaped, flat at the top and tilted back with a long thick nose carved in relief. There is a very faint paint-ghost of an eye to the right of the nose, and traces of cinnabar on the cheeks and neck. A curvilinear groove delineates the slightly pointed chin from the beginning of the neck, which broadens at the nape. The torso is narrow, nearly rectangular, with rounded sloping shoulders. Deep grooves delineate the narrow upper arms from the full, softly rounded, conical breasts. The forearms, folded left over right, are carved at a slight angle above the belly. Neither fingers nor hands are indicated. The belly appears somewhat swollen, possibly indicating pregnancy. A smooth curved groove defines its lower edge and the tops of the figure’s broad thighs. There is no clearly defined pubic triangle, although some very slight horizontal incisions and the notch at the cleft between the broad thighs may indicate otherwise. The hips gently swell at the sides and down to the rather flat thighs that are delineated by a deep groove. In contrast the the lower legs, separated from the knees down, are more plastically rendered with full rounded calves. The feet are connected at the ankles and angled downward with no indications of toes. Around the back of the figure the marble is carved away to show the backward tilt of the head, the forearms, the underside of the rounded buttocks, and the back of the knees. There is no indication of a spine.





Although the general rendering of this female figure compares with that of other Kapsala-type statues, atypical features, such as its small size, no delineation of a spine, and the shape of its head and placement on the neck, indicate a need for further examination and analysis. Pat Getz-Gentle discusses these features and attributes the figure to the Kontoleon Sculptor.(1)





There is a filled loss on the toes of the left foot. Striated tool markings are visible in the grooves that define the features and on the back of the head. A thin layer of golden-brown accretion covers most of the surface including some in the shape of rootlets.




Geogios Gavalas, Dorothy Abramitis, Federico Carò





(1) See Getz-Preziozi, Pat. 1987. Sculptors of the Cyclades: Individual and Tradition in the Third Millenium BC, pp. 83-86, and it should be compared with the figures illustrated in pl. 5.1 and pl. 21.2, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.