The “Cup Bearer”, an iconic sculpture of Cycladic art from the period 2800-2300 BC, is still puzzling archaeologists. The sculpture (15.2 cm tall) is exhibited at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens.
Carved from white Cycladic marble, 4,500 years ago, a seated human figure raises a small cup in his right hand. We wonder what he will do. Is he going to drink, toast, or pour the contents on the ground in a libation to the gods?
He sits on a stool carved from the same piece of marble and has its legs slightly spread while holding his left hand folded across his chest. The surface of the marble is carved smooth, with delicate lines that separate each finger.
Cup Bearer is most likely a male
The “Cup Bearer” is part of a series of sculptures that include male and female figures playing instruments, sitting in groups, and partaking in various other activities.
Archaeologists admit that as long as there is no written evidence of the people who lived in the Cyclades in the 3rd millennium BC, understanding and interpreting their art will be difficult.
The gender of the figurine is not clear. However, archaeologists believe that it belongs to a male figure because it is depicted in action. In Cycladic art, female figures are usually shown standing and not in action in an almost priestly posture with their arms folded under their chests.
On the contrary, male figures are shown either seated, as musicians, or as hunters, and only rarely in a standing posture with their arms folded across their chests.
The seated figurine with the cup in his hand differs from most works of Cycladic art which are static and flat, almost like reliefs.
Cup-Bearer resembles modern art
With his entire stance and especially with the free extension of his right arm away from the body, he seems to conquer three-dimensional space and transform into a real work of sculpture, the Museum of Cycladic Art says.
At the same time, the upward movement of the hand gives a sense of time and continuity that is absent from the other Cycladic figurines, it adds.
If it were a modern work, we would be sure that the artist deliberately froze the movement there to leave his audience wondering what would happen.
During the 1950s-1960s, there was looting that took place on the Cycladic Islands – destroying many of the sacred burial sites and their documents –resulting in the introduction of many “undocumented” replicas of Cycladic sculptures.
There is no signature or “date” inscribed on these sculptures, so it is up to the archaeologist to decipher their history. Having no frame of reference makes it even more difficult to figure out what these figures meant to society.
Most of the documents that were destroyed, during the looting, can never be recovered – leaving scholars to their own hypotheses and speculations – adding on to an ever-growing enigma.
Related: Cycladic Art Display at The Met Sends Message on Parthenon Marbles