Detail of the Greek Marble Grave Stele of a Young Girl With Doves in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007

Marble grave stele of a little girl, ca. 450–440 B.C.; Classical
Greek
Marble, Parian; H. 31 1/2 in. (80 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1927 (27.45)

This stele was found on the island of Paros in 1775. The gentle gravity of the child is beautifully expressed through her sweet farewell to her pet doves. Her peplos is unbelted and falls open at the side, and the folds of drapery clearly reveal her stance. Many of the most skillful stone carvers came from the Cycladic islands, where marble was plentiful. The sculptor of this stele could have been among the artists who congregated in Athens during the third quarter of the fifth century B.C. to decorate the Parthenon.

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