A Cycladic Marble Figure of a Goddess, Early Bronze Age II, circa 2500-2400 B.C.

of Spedos type, lying with her legs bent at the knees and forearms folded under the shallow breasts, with broad rounded thighs, strong neck of oval section, and lyre-shaped head, the back of the ankles and knees, spinal column, and other details grooved, remains of red-painted detail on the face and chest, the paint ghosts of the hair and eyes partially visible.

Michel Dumez-Onof, Mount Street, London, October 1980

"Classical Antiquities from Private Collections in Great Britain. A Loan Exhibition in Aid of the Ashmole Archive," Sotheby's, London, January 15th to 31st, 1986

Carlos A Picón, Classical Antiquities from Private Collections in Great Britain. A Loan Exhibition in Aid of the Ashmole Archive, catalogue of the exhibition, London, 1986, p. 16, no. 1, pl. I
Pat Getz-Preziosi, Early Cycladic Art in North American Private Collections, Richmond, Virginia, 1987, p. 207
E. Hendrix, The Paint Motifs on Early Cycladic Figures, PhD. diss., New York University, 2000, no. 34, illus.

very good, repaired at neck and knees, proper left side of figure slightly pitted, weathered, and encrusted in front as shown, scattered root-marks on back
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For an example attributed to the same hand and similar in scale in the Naxos Archaeological Museum (inv. no. 4673) see P. Zapheiropoulou, "Protokykladika Eidolia tis Naxou," in Stele: Tomos eis Mnemen Nikolaou Kontoleontos, Athens, 1979, p. 538, no. 10, pl. 242; the author names the sculptor the Master of Naxos 4673 and attributes to him two other figures, both in the Goulandris Collection, inv. nos. 252 and 282 (Chr. Doumas, Cycladic Art. Ancient Sculpture and Ceramics of the Aegean from the N.P. Goulandris Collection, Washington, D.C., 1979, no. 43 and 142), which might belong to a different period in the artist's production.

Similar painted details can be found on figures attributed to the Goulandris Master: see J. Thimme, Kunst und Kultur der Kykladeninseln im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr., Karlsruhe, 1976, nos. 177 (vertical strokes above the nose), 167 (bangles), and 171 (dots on lower face). For painted motifs between the breasts see C. Zervos, L'art des Cyclades du début à la fin de l'âge du bronze, 2500-1000 avant notre ère, Paris, 1957, fig. 248 (circle), P. Getz-Preziosi, Early Cycladic Art in North American Private Collections, no. 57 (vertical stripes), and Thimme, op. cit., no. 155.