Statuette of a Female Figure

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Early Bronze Age, 2600–2400 BCE

Cycladic; probably from the island of Keros

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. Although they are admired today for their stark simplicity, these statuettes once had hair, eyes, jewelry, or other ornaments added in red, blue, and black pigment, which has since faded.

Status: On View, Gallery 151
Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Statuette of a Female Figure
Place: Kéa (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 2600 BCE–2400 BCE
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: 39.9 × 11.6 × 4.9 cm (15 11/16 × 4 9/16 × 1 15/16 in.)
Credit Line: Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund
Reference Number: 1978.115
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/52201/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, “Recent Accessions in the Department of Classical Art,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago vol. 74, no. 1 (January-March 1980), p. 8 (ill.)
Jack L. Davis, “A Cycladic Figure in Chicago and rhe Non-funereal Use of Cycladic Marble Figures,” in J. Lesley Fitton, Cycladica: Studies in Memory of N.P. Goulandris (London: British Museum, 1983), pp. 15-23 (ill).
Pat Getz-Preziosi, Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections (Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1987), pp. 160-161, cat. 38 (ill.).
John Griffiths Pedley, “Greek Art” in Museum Studies: Ancient Art at The Art Institute of Chicago 20, no. 1 (1994), p. 36 (ill.), no. 17.
Karen Alexander, “The New Galleries of Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Minerva vol. 5, no. 3 (May/June, 1994), p. 30, fig. 4.
CLEOPATRA; THE ANCIENT WORLD,” Computer program, 1997, The Art Institute of Chicago.
James Wood, Treasures from The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2000), p. 70 (ill.).
Pat Getz-Gentle, Ancient Art of the Cyclades, exh. cat. (Katonah, New York: Katonah Museum of Art 2006), p. 31 (ill.).
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 39.

Richmond, VA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections, November 10, 1987 - January 10, 1988; Forth Worth, TX, Kimball Art Museum, March 5, 1988 - May 15, 1988; San Francisco, CA, Legion of Honor, June 25, 1988 - September 25, 1988.
Katonah Museum of Art, Ancient Art of the Cyclades, October 1, 2006 - December 31, 2006.
Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, November 11, 2012 - present.

Unknown private collection, London, by about 1947 [according to letter in curatorial file]; sold to B.C. Holland of Objects Inc., Chicago, by June 5, 1978 [receipt no. 36220 in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1978.

Tips for Teachers and Parents: Body Language: How to Talk to Students About Nudity in Art

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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