A Cycladic Marble Figure of a Goddess, circa 2600-2200 B.C.

Gimpel Fils Ltd., London

acquired by the current owner from the above on January 31st, 1966

Cycladic figures continued to evolve stylistically after the waning popularity of the late Spedos variety. The mid-third millennium B.C. saw the rise of two more mannered, angular and severe varieties known as Dokathismata and Chalandriani. Pat Getz-Preziosi succinctly delineates the types: “The Dokathismata variety is the more refined of the two, with the best figures showing careful workmanship and elongated proportions that contrast sharply with exaggeratedly broad shoulders. Examples of the Chalandriani variety, which consists chiefly of small figures with squared shoulders, are often less carefully made” (P. Getz-Preziosi, Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections, 1987, p. 210). The present example exhibits the elegant elongated sloping shoulders of the Dokathismata variety, while starting to veer towards an overall squareness seen in Chalandriani examples. For a closely related example, see Getz-Preziosi, op. cit., no. p. 216, no. 61.