Anatolian, Kusura-Beycesultan Type, 2700-2300 B.C.

Marble

H: 19.2 cm (7.5 in)

Serial: 25529

This figurine was carved from a very thin and flat plaque of marble, the edges are slightly convex. The thinness of the marble is testament to the skill of the carver. The finely modeled figurine presented here was crafted in Asia Minor, in ancient Anatolia, where the tradition of schematic statuettes survived into the Bronze Age. 

The piece belongs to the so-called Kusura-Beycesultan type and is its variant. Different types of stone idols are often named after their place of excavation, the Kusura type is among the most widely known groups. This Kusura-Beycesultan variant possesses a tripartite structure: a disk-shaped head, a trapezoidal neck and the spade-shaped body. The abstract figure lacks any structural detail marking the human anatomy. Some examples were found in the funerary context, and probably they had ritual function in the ceremonies.

CONDITION

Complete; reassembled; crack at neck.

PROVENANCE

Ex- Swiss private collection, 1980’s.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

HÖCKMANN O., The Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Idols of Anatolia, in THIMME J., ed., Art and Culture in the Cyclades in the Third Millennium B.C., Chicago, 1977, pp. 380-384; 557-559, nos. 495-502, 504.

SPYCKET A., The Human Form Divine, From the Collections of E. Borowski, Jerusalem, 2000.

Woman in Anatolia, 9000 Years of the Anatolian Woman, Istanbul, 1993.