Cycladic figurines (sometimes called "Cycladic idols") are among the most enigmatic and most evocative objects from Greek prehistory. They were produced in the Cycladic islands (whence the name) in the southern Aegean
South Aegean
The South Aegean is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the Cyclades and Dodecanese island groups in the central and southeastern Aegean Sea.
Full Answer
What are Cycladic sculptures?
As a result, Cycladic art is one of the three major groups of Aegean art. The most well-known surviving Cycladic sculptures were the marble figures, which were often a single complete female figurine with arms crossed on the front. 3.1 Where Can I See Cycladic Art? 3.2 What Is Cycladic Art? 3.3 What Were Cycladic Sculptures Used For?
When did the Cycladic civilization begin and end?
Archaeology. Early Cycladic culture evolved in three phases, between c. 3300 and 2000 BC, when it was increasingly submerged in the rising influence of Minoan Crete. Excavations at Knossos on Crete reveal an influence of Cycladic civilization upon Knossos in the period 3400 to 2000 BC as evidenced from pottery finds at Knossos.
What happened to the Cyclades in the Bronze Age?
Archaeologists believe that the site was an important religious sanctuary which drew people from all over the Cyclades. The dynamic early Bronze Age culture of the Cyclades ends abruptly, around 2000 B.C.E., when all settlement sites are abandoned.
What are the characteristics of Early Cycladic civilization's pottery?
All pottery of early Cycladic civilization was made by hand, and typically was a black or reddish color, though pottery of a pale buff has also been found. The most common shapes are cylindrical boxes, known as pyxides, and collared jars. They are crude in construction, with thick walls and crumbling imperfections,...
What were Cycladic idols used for?
Their most likely function is as some sort of religious idol and the predominance of female figures, sometimes pregnant, suggests a fertility deity. Supporting this view is the fact that figurines have been found outside of a burial context at settlements on Melos, Kea and Thera.
What are the characteristics of Cycladic art?
The Cycladic Sculptures all possess certain features -canonical [folded arms], proportional and simplistic. They appear in this gallery as pure in their whiteness. However, these sculptures were frequently painted. Pigments were used to add detail.
What do we know about the Cycladic figurines?
Cycladic figurines (sometimes called "Cycladic idols") are among the most enigmatic and most evocative objects from Greek prehistory. They were produced in the Cycladic islands (whence the name) in the southern Aegean for a few centuries around the middle of the third millennium BC.
What are Cycladic sculptures made of?
Broadly speaking, Cycladic art consists of small, stylised figures and vessels, either sculpted from marble or moulded from clay. The majority of these were produced during the Grotta-Pelos (Early Cycladic I) culture (c. 3200?-2700 BC) and the Keros-Syros (Early Cycladic II) culture (c. 2700-2400/2300 BC).
How big are Cycladic figurines?
The figures are typically small in size, usually no larger than thirty centimeters, and are not able to stand on their own, as the feet are pointed. Surviving figurines have been carved from marble, but it is suggested by some that they may also have been carved from wood.
How did Cycladic art influence modern art?
From a formal perspective, the link between Cycladic art and modern sculpture seems obvious: The abstract simplicity, highly stylized forms, and balanced proportions of the many white marble figurines and vessels unearthed from the Aegean islands clearly translate to well-known examples of today's most famous ...
How are Cycladic male figures typically depicted?
The male figures are often depicted sitting in a chair and playing a harp or a lyre.
What are the characteristics of the Cycladic statuette of a woman in terms of elements and style?
Cycladic sculpture is characterized by the abstract treatment of the human form. The vast majority of the white marble statuettes depict pregnant females, suggesting an association with fertility or regenerative forces.
How does Cycladic art differ from Minoan art?
Cycladic art is known for its simple figurines carved in white marble; Minoan art for its palace complexes with frescos, imagery of bulls and bull-leaping, and sophisticated pottery and jewellery; and Mycenaean art for its lavish metalwork in gold, imagery of combat and massively-constructed citadels and tombs.
What are the characteristics of the Cycladic statuette of a woman in terms of elements and style?
Cycladic sculpture is characterized by the abstract treatment of the human form. The vast majority of the white marble statuettes depict pregnant females, suggesting an association with fertility or regenerative forces.
How does Cycladic art differ from Minoan art?
Cycladic art is known for its simple figurines carved in white marble; Minoan art for its palace complexes with frescos, imagery of bulls and bull-leaping, and sophisticated pottery and jewellery; and Mycenaean art for its lavish metalwork in gold, imagery of combat and massively-constructed citadels and tombs.
Where are Cycladic figures usually found?
Many of the Cycladic Islands are particularly rich in mineral resources—iron ores, copper, lead ores, gold, silver, emery, obsidian, and marble, the marbles of Paros and Naxos among the finest in the world.
How are male figures in Cycladic art usually depicted?
The male figures are often depicted sitting in a chair and playing a harp or a lyre.
What is the name of the Cycladic figure?
The Chalandriani variety is a type of Cycladic figure from the end of the Early Cycladic II period of the Bronze Age. Named for the cemetery on the island of Syros on which they were found, these figures are somewhat similar in style and mannerism to the Dokathismata variety that preceded them. Chalandriani figures, however, feature a more truncated shape in which the arms are very close to the pubic triangle and the leg cleft is only indicated by a shallow groove.
What is the most naturalistic type of Cycladic figurine?
The Plastiras type is the most naturalistic type of Cycladic figurine, marked by exaggerated proportions. An ovoid head with carved facial features, including ears, sits atop an elongated neck that typically takes up a full third of the figure's total height.
What is the Dokathismata type?
Dokathismata variety. The Dokathismata type is a Cycladic figure from the end of the Early Cycladic II period of the Bronze Age. With characteristics that are developed from the earlier Spedos variety, the Dokathismata figures feature broad, angular shoulders and a straight profile.
What is the most common type of figurine?
Female marble figurine, probably from Amorgos, Dokathismata variety (EC II, 2800–2300 BCE; Ashmolean Museum) The Spedos type, named after an Early Cycladic cemetery on Naxos, is the most common of Cycladic figurine types. It has the widest distribution within the Cyclades as well as elsewhere, and the greatest longevity.
What is the Kapsala variety?
The Kapsala variety is a type of Cycladic figure of the Early Cycladic II period. This variety is often thought to precede or overlap in period with that of the canonical Spedos variety of figures. Kapsala figures differ from the canonical type in that the arms are held much lower in the right-below-left folded configuration and the faces lack sculpted features other than the nose and occasionally ears. Kapsala figures show a tendency of slenderness, especially in the legs, which are much longer and lack the powerful musculature suggested in earlier forms of the sculptures. The shoulders and hips are much narrower as well, and the figures themselves are very small in size, rarely larger than 30 cm in length. Evidence suggests that paint is now regularly used to demarcate features such as the eyes and pubic triangle, rather than carving them directly. One characteristic of note of the Kapsala variety is that some figures seem to suggest pregnancy, featuring bulging stomachs with lines drawn across the abdomen. Like other figures of the Early Cycladic II period, the most defining feature of the Kapsala variety is their folded-arm position.
What is the name of the figurine with no legs?
Pelos type (schematic) The Pelos type figurines are different than many other Cycladic figurines as for most the gender is undetermined. The most famous of the Pelos type figurines are the "violin"-shaped figurines. On these figurines there is an implied elongated head, no legs and a violin-shaped body.
What is a violin figurine?
One particular "violin" figurine, has breasts, arms under the breasts, and a pubic triangle, possibly representing a fertility goddess. However, since not all the figurines share these characteristics, no accurate conclusion can be made at this time. Cycladic marble figurine, Plastiras type.
What is the Cycladic culture known for?
The significant Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Cycladic culture is best known for its schematic flat female idols carved out of the islands' pure white marble centuries before the great Middle Bronze Age (" Minoan ") culture arose in Crete, to the south. These figures have been stolen from burials to satisfy the Cycladic antiquities market ...
Where is the Cycladic civilization located?
3200–c. 1050 BC) found throughout the islands of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea. In chronological terms, it is a relative dating system for artefacts which broadly complements ...
Who discovered the Cycladic civilization?
The initial archaeological excavations of the 1880s were followed by systematic work by the British School at Athens and by Christos Tsountas, who investigated burial sites on several islands in 1898–99 and coined the term "Cycladic civilization".
When did the Neolithic culture begin?
A distinctive Neolithic culture amalgamating Anatolian and mainland Greek elements arose in the western Aegean before 4000 BC, based on emmer and wild-type barley, sheep and goats, pigs, and tuna that were apparently speared from small boats (Rutter).
Who were the Cycladic artists?
Several Modern artists were influenced by Cycladic figurines as well, including Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brâncusi, and Amedeo Modigliani.
What are the statues of women in the Cyclades?
But, what is really remarkable is what has often been found in these tombs: elegantly carved small-scale marble sculptures, nearly all of women, known as Cycladic figurines. These form the first stylistically coherent sculptural type to develop in Europe and have featured prominently in the prehistoric art history of Greece. Several Modern artists were influenced by Cycladic figurines as well, including Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brâncusi, and Amedeo Modigliani.
When did the Cyclades end?
Broken figurines found during archaeological excavations on the island of Keros ( Island of Broken Figurines) The dynamic early Bronze Age culture of the Cyclades ends abruptly, around 2000 B.C.E., when all settlement sites are abandoned.
Where are the Cyclades located?
The Cyclades (often referred to as the Greek Islands) are a group of islands to the southeast of Mainland Greece in close proximity to one another, so much so, from each island you can nearly always see at least one other.
What is the significance of the site of Dhaskalio-Kavos?
Archaeologists believe that the site was an important religious sanctuary which drew people from all over the Cyclades.
Overview
The ancient Cycladic culture flourished in the islands of the Aegean Sea from c. 3300 to 1100 BCE. Along with the Minoan civilization and Mycenaean Greece, the Cycladic people are counted among the three major Aegean cultures. Cycladic art therefore comprises one of the three main branches of Aegean art.
The best known type of artwork that has survived is the marble figurine, most commonly a singl…
Neolithic art
Almost all information known regarding Neolithic art of the Cyclades comes from the excavation site of Saliagos off Antiparos. Pottery of this period is similar to that of Crete and the Greek mainland. Sinclair Hood writes: "A distinctive shape is a bowl on a high foot comparable with a type which occurs in the mainland Late Neolithic."
Cycladic sculptures
The best-known art of this period are the marble figures usually called "idols" or "figurines", though neither name is exactly accurate: the former term suggests a religious function which is by no means agreed on by experts, and the latter does not properly apply to the largest figures, which are nearly life size. These marble figures are seen scattered around the Aegean, suggesting that these figures were popular amongst the people of Crete and mainland Greece. Perhaps the most …
Early Cycladic art
Early Cycladic art is divided into three periods: EC I (2800–2500 BCE), EC II (2500–2200 BCE), and EC III (2200–2000 BCE). The art is by no means strictly confined to one of these periods, and in some cases, even representative of more than one of the Cycladic islands. The art of EC I is best represented on the islands of Paros, Antiparos, and Amorgos, while EC II is primarily seen on Syros, and EC III on Melos.
Early Minoan examples
Koumasa figurines, from the Early Minoan II cemetery at Koumasa on Crete, are very small and flat. The folded-arm figures typically have short legs and broad shoulders, and were prone to breakage given their delicate build.
Pottery
The local clay proved difficult for artists to work with, and the pottery, plates, and vases of this period are seldom above mediocre. Of some importance are the so-called 'frying pans', which emerged on the island of Syros during the EC II phase. These are round decorated disks, which were not used for cooking, but perhaps as fertility charms or mirrors. Some zoological figurines and pieces depicting ships have also been found.
External links
• The Cycladic Sculptures
• Greek art of the Aegean Islands, Issued in connection with an exhibition held November 1, 1979 – February 10, 1980, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, sponsored by the Government of the Republic of Greece, complemented by a loan from the Musée du Louvre