Harp player (NAMA 3908)

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Harpist from Keros

The figure of a harp player in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (inventory number NAMA 3908) is a marble- worked Cycladic idol . The seated idol is one of the most famous works of the early Bronze Age Cycladic culture . It is assigned to the early Spedos type and between the 27th and 23rd centuries BC. Dated.

description

The 22.5 cm high marble figure shows a naked male harpist sitting upright on a chair with a backrest. The thin and two-dimensional head is inclined slightly backwards, only the nose protrudes from the face. The resonance box of the frame harp rests on the right thigh , from which the frame extension protrudes. The frame has a beak-like ornament on the sloping side. The figure holds the harp with his left hand, while the right hand appears to be reaching for the non-existent strings. The gender is indicated between the opened thighs. The artistic design of the chair with its arched backrest and the struts of the chair legs with their carved out spaces are unusual. The figure was not completely preserved, parts of the chair were missing, part of the harp, the right leg from the knee down, both feet and both forearms. With the exception of the forearms, the gaps were filled in plaster of paris.

Classification and meaning

In addition to numerous almost upright female figurines, the Cycladic sculptors created a small number of three-dimensional special forms, standing individual figures or groups of figures on standing plates and sitting idols on simple stools or, less often, chairs. Seated female idols are shown with crossed arms, male with outstretched hand and holding an object, such as the so-called "reveler" or the more well-known group of harp players. Representations of idols making music are rare, the group of harpists is considered to be the earliest evidence of string playing in the Aegean region. Some authors have questioned their authenticity. Of the 14 harpists in museums or private collections, the origin of 6 is considered certain. Harpists were made over a period of about 250 years.

In terms of time, the harpists are mainly assigned to the early Spedos type , a few to the Kapsala type (Early Cycladic II). The harpist 47.100.1 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of unknown origin is dated to the transition from Early Cycladic I to Early Cycladic II.

With the acquisition of Thera's grave find by the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe in 1838, two harpists came into museum possession for the first time. The harp player 3908 and the statuette of an aulos player were presented by Ulrich Köhler in 1884. They are said to have been found together with two female canonical idols in a grave on the Cycladic island of Keros and were acquired for the Museum of the Archaeological Society. The harpist 8833 in the Athens Archaeological Museum comes from the excavation of grave 40 of Afendika on Naxos by Clon Stephanos at the beginning of the 20th century. The fragmented Amorgos harpist was found in 1996 during a surface inspection of a pile of stones near looted graves.

Investigations have shown that the aulos and harp players are made of very similar marble. The white, very fine-grained marble is very translucent and has fine yellow veins. The marble quality is reminiscent of the finds from the excavations of the Cambridge Keros Project on Daskalio Island . After comparing it with sample collections, the marble most likely comes from the southeast of the island of Naxos .

literature

  • Pat Getz-Preziosi: The Male Figure in Early Cycladic Sculpture. In: Metropolitan Museum Journal. Volume 15, New York 1980, ISSN 0077-8958, pp. 3-33.
  • Pat Getz-Preziosi: Manufacture of the Cycladic Idols and their sculptors. In: Jürgen Thimme (Ed.): Art and Culture of the Cyclades Islands in the 3rd Millennium BC. CF Müller, Karlsruhe 1976, ISBN 3-7880-9568-7 , pp. 75-93.
  • Nikolaos Kaltsas : The National Archaeological Museum . Ed .: EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA / Latsis Foundation . OLKOS, 2007, ISBN 978-960-89339-2-7 , pp. 77-79 ( online ).
  • Bo Lawergren: A “Cycladic” harpist in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Harplayer statuette). In: Source. Notes in the History of Art. Volume 20, Number 1, New York 2000, pp. 2-9.
  • Emmanouil (Manolis) Mikrakis: String instruments in the Aegean and Cyprus in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages: Music and culture between continuity and change. Heidelberg 2016 (dissertation at the University of Heidelberg 2006), p. 455. here: 37–56. PDF online
  • Manolis Mikrakis: Early Cycladic Musicians. In: Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (Ed.): Cyclades - Worlds of an early Greek culture. Catalog Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe. Primus, Darmstadt 2011. ISBN 978-3-86312-016-0 . P. 58 f.
  • Jürgen Thimme (Hrsg.): Art and culture of the Cyclades islands in the 3rd millennium before Christ. CF Müller, Karlsruhe 1976, ISBN 3-7880-9568-7 , pp. 489-494.

Web links

Commons : Harp Player (NAMA 3908)  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Pat Getz-Preziosi: The Male Figure in Early Cycladic Sculpture. 1980, p. 15; Note 23
  2. ^ Pat Getz-Preziosi: The Male Figure in Early Cycladic Sculpture. 1980, p. 31.
  3. ↑ Emmanouil Mikrakis: String Instruments in the Aegean Sea and Cyprus in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages: Music and culture between continuity and change. 2016, p. 37.
  4. ^ Pat Getz-Gentle, Jack de Vries: Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture. University of Wisconsin Press, 2001, ISBN 0-299-17060-8 , p. 135, footnote 49. ( limited preview in Google Book Search); Emmanouil Mikrakis: Stringed instruments in the Aegean and Cyprus in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages: Music and culture between continuity and change. 2016, pp. 39-45; Manolis Mikrakis: Early Cycladic Musicians. 2011, pp. 38–42.
  5. ↑ Emmanouil Mikrakis: String Instruments in the Aegean Sea and Cyprus in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages: Music and culture between continuity and change. 2016, pp. 39-45; Manolis Mikrakis: Early Cycladic Musicians. 2011, p. 58.
  6. ^ David WJ Gill, Christopher Chippindale: Consequences of Esteem for Cycladic Figures. In: Archaeological Institute of America (Ed.): American Journal of Archeology. Volume 97, Number 4, 1993, p. 619.
  7. ^ Pat Getz-Preziosi: The Male Figure in Early Cycladic Sculpture. 1980, p. 31.
  8. ↑ Jürgen Thimme: Art and culture of the Cyclades islands in the 3rd millennium before Christ. 1976, pp. 492, 573.
  9. ^ Ulrich Köhler : Prehistoric of the Greek islands. In: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologische Institut, Athenische Department 9, 1884, pp. 156–158; Table 5 ( online , illustration )
  10. ↑ Georgios Papathanasopoulos: Κυκλαδικὰ Νάξου [ Cycladica Naxou ]. In: Archeologikon Deltion. Volume 17, Athens 1962, p. 148 f. PDF Online (Greek)
  11. ↑ Dimitris Tambakopoulos, Yannis Maniatis: The marble of the Cyclades and its use in the early Bronze Age. In: Marisa Marthari, Colin Renfrew, Michael Boyd (Eds.): Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context. Oxbow Books, Oxford & Philadelphia 2017, ISBN 978-1-78570-195-5 , p. 480.