A Cycladic Marble Figure of a Goddess, Early Bronze Age II, circa 2600-2500 B.C.

Simone de Monbrison, Paris

Merton D. Simpson, New York

American private collection, acquired from the above on December 31st, 1968

by descent from the above

acquired by the present owner from the above

Closely related figures attributed to the Bent Sculptor are in the Louvre (MNE 1033; Ma 4997: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010278478) and Harvard University Art Museums (1995.1134: https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/292968). The name piece of the Bent

Sculptor is in the British Museum (1884,1213.11: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1884-1213-11).

"Among the salient characteristics of the Bent Sculptor's style are a wide face with a broad nose and a pointed chin; wide, crisply defined shoulders that are round only at their actual 'points'; upper arms that are either quite straight or show an idiosyncratic concavity; and elbows that are carved on the body, obscuring the narrow waist, the result of a dramatic decrease in overall width from the shoulders to the elbows. Note especially the slightly dropped left elbow and the corresponding subtle tapering off of the right 'hand.' These works all have a brief mid-section, either straight or slightly angled thigh-tops, and a perforation of the leg-cleft that runs from the knees to the heels. On the rear, the upper arms are carved in a plane that is distinctly lower than that of flat back; the grooved spine merges with the leg-cleft; and the buttocks are indicated by a change in plane rather than by a horizontal or curving groove. The profile shows more variety than the front or rear, with some works being straighter than others" (Pat Getz-Gentle,

Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture, Madison, Wisconsin, 2001, p. 70; see pls. 58-59).