The Cyclades is a group of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea encircling the island of Delos . The islands were known for their white marble mined during the Greek Bronze Age and throughout Classical history. Their geographical location placed them, like the island of Crete, in the center of trade between Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Near East. Indigenous civilization on the Cyclades reached its high point during the Bronze Age. The islands were later occupied by the Minoans, Mycenaeans, and later the Greeks.
Map of the Cyclades Islands
A map marking the Cyclades Islands.
Cycladic art is best known for its small scale marble figurines. From the late fourth millennium BCE to the early second millennium BCE, Cycladic sculptures went through a series of stylistic shifts, with bodily forms varying from geometric to organic. The purpose of these figurines is unknown, although all that have been discovered have been located in graves. While it is clear that they were regularly used in funerary practices, their precise function remains a mystery. Some are found in graves completely intact, others are found broken into pieces, others show signs of being used during the lifetime of the deceased, but some graves do not contain the figurines. Furthermore, the figurines were buried equally between men and women. The male and female forms do not seem to be identified with a specific gender during burial.
These figures are based in simple geometric shapes. Abstract female figures all follow the same mold. Each carved statuette is of a nude woman with her arms crossed over her abdomen . The bodies are roughly triangular and the feet are kept together. The head of the women is an inverted triangle with a rounded chin and the nose of the figurine protrudes from the center. Each figure has modeled breasts, and incised lines draw attention to the pubic region with a triangle. Swollen bellies on some figurines might have indicated pregnancy or symbolic fertility. Incised lines also provide small details including toes on the feet and delineate the arms from each other and the stomach. Their flat back and inability to stand on their carved feet suggest that these figures were meant to lie down. While today they are featureless and remain the stark white of the marble, traces of paint allow us to know that they were once colored. Paint would have been applied on the face to demarcate the eyes, mouths, and hair. Dots were used to decorate the figures with bracelets and necklaces.
Cycladic Female Figure
A Cycladic female figure. Marble. Cyclades, Greece. c. 2500 BCE
Male figures are also found in Cycladic grave sites. These figures differ from the females, as the male typically sits on a chair and plays an musical instrument like pipes or a harp. Harp players, like the one in the example below, play the frame harp, a Near Eastern ancestor of the modern harp. The figures, their chairs, and instruments are all carved into elegant, cylindrical shapes. Like the female figures, the shape of the male figure is reliant on geometric shapes and flat planes. Incised lines provide details (such as toes), and paint would have added distinctive features to the now blank faces.
Cycladic Male Figure
A Cycladic male figure with the harp. Marble. Santorini, Greece. c. 2500 BCE.
While reclining female and seated male figurines are the most common Cycladic sculptures discovered, other forms such as animals and abstracted humanoid forms were produced. Examples include terra cotta figurines of bovine animals (possibly oxen or bulls) dating to 2200-2000 BCE and small, flat sculptures resembling female figures shaped like violins dating to the Grotta-Pelos culture, also known as Early Cycladic I (c. 3300-2700 BCE). Like other Cycladic sculptures discovered to date, the purposes of these figurines remain unknown.
Terra cotta figurines (2200-2000 BCE)
These bovine figures may be oxen or bulls.
Violin-shaped female figurines (c. 3300-2700 BCE)
These flat, abstracted figurines of the female body provide one example of how the body evolved in Cycladic art.