Provenance:
A. Sturzu, Paris, prior to 1970-2016.
P. Chappey, Paris, 2016-2017.
David Ghezelbash Archeologie, Paris, 8 May 2017.
(Art Loss Register no. S00231632)

Minimal and abstract in form, with their function still unknown, Cycladic idols have beguiled scholars and captivated the imagination of modern viewers for the last century. As a group of artworks, they are puzzling, in that they were produced almost exclusively in the craggy Aegean archipelago known as the Cyclades (the source of the Mediterranean’s finest white marble) over a span of about a thousand years, marked by a strong and remarkably uniform aesthetic.

The present head is unusually large and once belonged to an exceptionally slender figure (likely female) of nearly three feet in length. The strikingly elongated shape is punctuated by a precisely carved aquiline nose, which emerges as a ridge from the otherwise featureless face. A somewhat larger example at the Getty (Acc. no. 96.AA.27) is the best parallel in terms of style and technique, preserving brightly painted patterns over the cheeks and forehead. The present example is somewhat more weathered, but enough of the original surface remains that evidence for polychromy can be detected, in the form of so-called paint “ghosts.” Faint traces around almond-shaped eyes were likely painted, and smooth areas at the top of the forehead and the back of the head likely indicate that a fugitive pigment was used for a headdress and hair.