3-045-195 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Statuette of a Female Figure with Truncated Arms, 3000-2800 B.C. Additional Info: Named for a cemetery on the island of Paros in the Cyclades, the Plastiras type (about 3000-2800 B.C.) of Cycladic figure usually represented a standing woman with her hands meeting above the waist. This example is unusual in having no forearms. Plastiras figures are irregularly proportioned, with the neck and head often as much as one third of the figure's overall height. The sculptor carefully carved this marble figure, separating the legs and indicating many anatomical details such as the collarbone, kneecaps, navel, and pelvic area. The face was articulated with a mouth and nose carved in relief, and holes bored for eyes, which were originally inlaid in a dark stone. Carving each leg made the figures fragile, and many show signs of ancient repairs. The hole in the figure's right thigh was used to reattach her leg after it broke in antiquity; the lower leg is no longer preserved. There are also modern repairs to the left leg and to the neck where it joins the shoulders.