Female Figure

CultureCycladic
Titles
  • Female Figure
Date2700–2300 BC
PlaceGreece
MediumMarble
Dimensions9 5/8 × 2 7/16 × 1 inches (24.4 × 6.2 × 2.5 cm)

Credit LineGift of Miss Annette Finnigan
Object number37.26
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Antiquities
Object Type
Description

More than 4,000 years ago, sculptors on the Cycladic Islands in the Aegean Sea carved elegant figures that today look quite modern. Simply modeled, striking abstract female figures were found in graves with other goods, probably as offerings to the dead. An idol like this one was chosen by Greece as the symbol of the opening of the Olympic Games in Athens.


 During the Early Bronze Age, Cycladic sculptors carved abstract male and female figures from marble. The most prevalent type of figure is a female with folded arms. These distinctive abstracted and elongated works were simply carved but had painted details indicating eyes, hair, and sometimes jewelry. Because no written records from this early period exist, the exact purpose of the figures is unknown, but they may represent fertility goddesses. In the early 20th century, many European artists, including Constantin Brancusi, admired Cycladic sculpture for its abstracted stylization. 


Provenance[Theodore Zoumpoulakis, Athens, by 1935]; purchased by Miss Annette Finnigan (1873–1940), Houston, 1935–1937; given to MFAH, 1937.
Exhibition History"Cycladic & Haniwa Sculpture," University of St. Thomas, Houston, Tex., October-November, 1963.

"Classic Art of Antiquity," Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth, Tex., November 1-December 5, 1965.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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