Cycladic Female Figurines in the Getty Villa, July 2008

Canonical Female Figures

By about 2700 BC, the folded-arm type had become the standard, or canonical, form for female sculpture in the Cyclades. Shared characteristics include include a flat, rectangular body, sloping shoulders, slightly protuberant breasts, arms separated by incisions, the left forearm always folded above the right, and an incised pubic triangle.

On the figure with its head preserved, the mouth is carved in shallow relief. This is unusual, for in this type the nose is the only facial feature that is consistently shown in relief.


Female Figure with a Carved Mouth (left)
Early Cycladic, 2600-2400 BC
Marble
Accession # 88.AA.48

and

Torso of a Female Figure (right)
Early Cycladic, 2500-2400 BC
Marble
Accession # 88.AA.81

Text from the Getty Villa museum label.