Large Female Figure with Incised Toes

Reclining with her arms crossed, this female figure is typical of the sculpture of the Cyclades in the mid-2000s B.C. Scholars have divided Cycladic sculpture into groups or types indicating stylistic and chronological developments. Named for a cemetery on the island of Naxos, the Spedos type was the most common of Cycladic figures: a slender elongated female with folded arms characterized by a U-shaped head and a deeply incised, but not cut-through, cleft between the legs. The figure's relaxed, slanting feet indicate her reclining position. This late example of a Spedos figure shows the further characteristic trait of a straight profile with little bend in the knees. This piece is unusually large and finely carved for a late Spedos figure.