Lot 27
CYCLADIC MARBLE TORSO, LATE SPEDOS VARIETY
EARLY CYCLADIC II PERIOD, C. 2700 – 2300 B.C.
£7,308
Classical Ancient Art // Form Through Time
Auction: Form Through Time - 21st March 2024 at 2pm
Description
carved marble, the bodily proportions reduced to an abstract minimalism, the arms folded across the chest, the shoulders angled, raised on a bespoke mount
Dimensions
Height: 10.5cm
Provenance
Provenance:
Nicolas Koutoulakis, Geneva, acquired 1970’s
Private collection, France
Footnote
Literature:
Cf. Doumas, C. G., & Mertens, J. R. (2002). Silent Witnesses: Early Cycladic Art of the Third Millennium B.C. (p. 82). Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation: New York.
Note:
The Cyclades, an archipelago in the southwestern Aegean, comprises thirty-nine small islands and many more islets. In ancient Greek they were referred to as the kyklades, envisioned as a circle (kuklos) around the sacred island of Delos, home to the most sacred temple of Apollo.
In the fourth millennium B.C. a distinctive culture emerged in the islands which ran for over two thousand years. Sitting at a favourable location in the Aegean Sea and rich in mineral resources, in particular iron ores and copper, the inhabitants of the Cyclades benefitted from the trade in these raw materials at a time when metallurgy was developing rapidly across the Mediterranean. Existing largely tangentially with the great civilisations of the Minoans and Mycenaeans, Cycladic people are counted among the three major Aegean cultures.
It was the Cycladic people who produced the very first masterpieces of Greek marble sculpture. “Idols” such as the present example were spread throughout the archipelago, with the tradition of carving such figures lasting for well over one thousand years.
The sense of abstraction offered by ancient Cycladic art stimulated many of the great twentieth century artists, including Brancusi, Modigliani, and Picasso. The present piece is a wonderful example of the type, though carved over four thousand years ago its geometric appeal remains distinctly modern.
