Cycladic Art

Related Category: European Art to 1599

(sĭklăd´ĭk), Bronze Age art of the Cyclades, an island group of the central Aegean. Early tomb remains include several types of jugs, pots, and bowls decorated in geometric designs, as well as figural sculptures made of marble. The latter are predominantly female fertility figures of many sizes, restrained in expression and refined in execution. They are frontal and geometric in style. Figures of musicians have also been discovered. In pottery of the 17th cent. B.C., found at Phylakopi in Mílos, considerable Minoan influence is discernible (see Minoan civilization). Cycladic art was absorbed by the Mycenaeans c.1400 B.C. (see Mycenaean civilization).

See studies by C. Dovmas (1981) and P. Getz-Preziosi (1987).