Cycladic schematic figurine (Phylakopi type)

The production of naturalistic figurines in the Cyclades apparently ceased at the end of the Early Cycladic II period (ca. 2300 BC). A small number of schematic figurines, which developed from analogous types of the early phase of Early Cycladic Culture, date from the next period, Early Cycladic III (2300-2000 BC). The illustrated example is of the so-called "Phylakopi I or Ayia Irini type" (named after the sites on the islands of Melos and Keos respectively), which includes mainly small (2.5-15 cm.) and extremely abstract figurines. The head is indicated by a long trapezoidal protuberance and the arms are small stumps, while the elementary legs are formed by excising a small triangular piece from the base. Virtually no anatomical details are denoted in figurines of this type, except on a few examples from Akrotiri (on the island of Thera) and Ayia Irini (on the island of Keos), on which breasts appear either in relief or as small depressions. The schematic figurines of this period are the final flickering of Early Cycladic marble sculpting, which gradually declined until its final demise at the end of the third millennium BC.