Female figurine with folded arms

This is a small figurine neatly executed in very fine marble. On its left side there is some damage from weathering, probably as a result of differential exposure during the conditions of its burial over the past four and a half millennia. This damage has also resulted in the loss of the left foot. Otherwise, the surface condition is very fine, with details created through modelling and through incision.

The figure belongs to a group called ‘folded-arm figurines’, named after the characteristic position of the arms, usually (as in this case) the left folded above the right. The stiff pose and the expressionless face (only the nose is indicated, although eyes, hair and other features might have originally been indicated by the use of paint) combine with the stereotypical rendering to create an impression of an icon or symbol rather than an individual person – though the use of paint may have been the means by which individual features were indicated.

These aspects have led to much speculation as to the ‘meaning’ of such figures. Do they represent an ideal, a divinity or a spirit, or something else entirely? Almost all such figures are female, with sexual characteristics indicated in most cases, which has led some scholars to speculate about an association with fertility. In this regard this particular figurine is of some interest, as it is one of the minority that appears to depict a stage of pregnancy. In many Cycladic figures the belly is almost flat, but in this case it is clearly swollen. However, even if this were to indicate a link to fertility, pregnancy is rarely depicted on such figures.

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