- Museum number
- 1872,0816.5
- Description
-
Small limestone statue of a naked young male (kouros), probably a votary; legs missing below the knee and arms below the elbows. The figure stands in typical kouros pose, with the left leg slightly forward, arms by the side and a passive frontal stare; rounded torso and full chest, with a rounded thoracic arch; button-shaped naval. The head is also carved in the round; almond-shaped eyes with ridged lids; flaring nostrils, full lips with slight smile. Narrow tresses of hair run in parallel lines from the crown down to a fringe of curls around the head (though without a fillet); the curls are not strongly differentiated but shown as a continuation of the incised tresses.
Apart from the missing limbs, the front of the left thigh is broken away, the buttocks are mostly lost, the penis is missing, and the face is damaged (chin and nose chipped). Currently mounted on a stone base.
- Production date
- 500BC-475BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 37.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- On the kouros on Cyprus see in particular: Weill 1973, esp. 59-61; Sheedy 2008, esp. 347-8; Jenkins 2001.
Only a small handful of nude male figures are found on Cyprus dating to this period, mostly small votive statuettes such as this example and two others from Idalion: GR 1872,8-16.70 (Sculpture C86) and GR 1873,3-20.179 (see Senff 1993, 48-50). In addition, a number of Archaic-period gypsum kouroi found at Naukratis in cult contexts, as well as one example possibly from Cyprus, have been attributed to Cypriot sculptors by Jenkins (2001, with refs to alternative theories as to their origins). A limestone kouros in the Cyprus Museum, Nicosia is similar to GR 1872,8-16.5 but larger in scale (c. 53cm) and later in date (Richter 1970, no 180 and figs 530-2; Sheedy 2008, 348). The latter is roughly contemporary (around 510 BC) with the closer to life-size 'Marion Kouros' (GR 1887,8-1.1; Sculpture B325), but this was carved by a Parian artist and was found in a tomb, not a sanctuary.
The Chatsworth Apollo, a lifesize bronze statue found in a sanctuary at Tamassos (of which only the head and leg survives but which was described as naked when discovered in 1836), dates to perhaps the middle of the fifth century (GR 1958,4-14.1). Although this early Classical Greek 'Severe Style' head influenced the local production of limestone votive statues, its nudity was not absorbed into Cypriot art and the vast majority of its artistic 'offspring' were clothed in the East Greek or Achaemenid style. Overall, the fashion for male nudity in sculpture widespread in Greek art is not found on Cyprus until comparatively late, especially in large-scale media.
Bibliography:
Jenkins I. 2001, 'Archaic kouroi in Naukratis: The case for Cypriot origin', AJA 105/2, 163-79.
Richter G. 1970 (3rd ed.), Kouroi. Archaic Greek youths. A study of the development of the kouros type in Greek sculpture, London-New York.
Sheedy K. 2008, 'The Marion Kouros in the British Museum', in Y. Kourayos and F. Prost (eds), La sculpture des Cyclades à l'Époque Archaïque. Histoire des ateliers, rayonnement des styles. BCH Supplément 48, Paris, 335-65.
Weil N. 1973, 'Un tête de Kouros archaïque à Salamine de Chypre', in Salamine de Chypre IV, Paris, 57-79.
- Location
- On display (G72/dc12)
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1872,0816.5
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 1917,0701.253