Marble head of a figure
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.Technical analysis: Multiband imaging, optical microscopy
This fine-grained white marble head and part of the neck are all that survive from a figure that would have measured ca. 72.0 cm high. The tilted backward head is lyre-shaped with a broad rounded chin and a long, wedge-shaped nose on the otherwise smooth facial plane. The top of the head is flat. A thin curved shallow groove delineates the head from the long cylindrical neck at the back.
There are ghosts of four possible eyes, two on right the side of the face and two on the left, the latter the result of differential weathering of calcite crystals. There are also vestiges of a squared-off hair ghost at the back of the head and a zig zag pattern at the top of the forehead.
Georgios Gavalas, Sandy MacGillivray, Dorothy Abramitis, Wendy Walker and Elizabeth Hendrix
This fine-grained white marble head and part of the neck are all that survive from a figure that would have measured ca. 72.0 cm high. The tilted backward head is lyre-shaped with a broad rounded chin and a long, wedge-shaped nose on the otherwise smooth facial plane. The top of the head is flat. A thin curved shallow groove delineates the head from the long cylindrical neck at the back.
There are ghosts of four possible eyes, two on right the side of the face and two on the left, the latter the result of differential weathering of calcite crystals. There are also vestiges of a squared-off hair ghost at the back of the head and a zig zag pattern at the top of the forehead.
Georgios Gavalas, Sandy MacGillivray, Dorothy Abramitis, Wendy Walker and Elizabeth Hendrix
Artwork Details
- Title: Marble head of a figure
- Period: Early Cycladic II
- Date: ca. 2500-2400/2300 BCE
- Culture: Cycladic
- Medium: Marble
- Dimensions: Height: 7 3/16 in. (18.2 cm)
Width: 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm)
Depth: 2 3/8 in. (6 cm)
Thickness: 2 in. (5.1 cm) - Classification: Stone Sculpture
- Credit Line: Leonard N. Stern Collection, Loan from the Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Culture
- Object Number: L.2022.38.105
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art