Tall, thin, small, wide, or shaped like a violin. Lying down, standing up, arms folded or looking up to the stars. Male, female, intersex or abstracted. Alone or in groups, drinking, or playing music. All these descriptions came to mind last week when I came into contact with some of the earliest known Greek figurine sculptures, known as Cycladic art.
Marble white – although originally painted – the Cycladic figures date from the Neolithic to early Bronze Age, around 5300–2300BC. They were sculpted in cultures based in the circular cluster of islands in the Aegean Sea known as the Cyclades. What began as pebble-shaped figurines grew into a great variety of shapes and sizes, sometimes with coiled hair and eyes drawn atop little wedge noses, and occasionally playing instruments.
