Provenance
by 1981 - 1985
Maurice Tempelsman (New York, New York), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum through Robin Symes (London, England), 1985.
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Not on view due to temporary Getty closure
Object Details
Title:
Male Harp Player of the Early Spedos Type
Artist/Maker:
Unknown
Culture:
Cycladic
Place:
Cyclades, Greece (Place Created)
Date:
2700–2300 B.C.
Medium:
Marble
Object Number:
85.AA.103
Dimensions:
35.8 × 9.5 × 28.1 cm (14 1/8 × 3 3/4 × 11 1/16 in.)
Object Description
Illustrations of musical performances are scarce in Cycladic art, and this harpist is one of the few known examples. Sitting erect on a simple four-legged stool with his face lifted in song, he plays a frame harp—a stringed instrument that originated in the Near East—while resting his right hand on its sound box. The extension at the top, a common feature on ancient stringed instruments, facilitated the projection of the sound. Originally the figure’s eyes and hair were added in paint. This challenging composition of a seated player, stool, and delicate frame was shaped from a block of solid marble and then patiently ground down with pumice and emery, locally available abrasives. The resulting three-dimensional design is a masterpiece of Bronze Age sculpture.
The vast majority of Cycladic sculptures represent standing or reclining female figures. Only five percent of the figures are males, and unlike the females most are depicted in an active role, frequently playing a musical instrument. Cycladic statuettes of harpists may represent humans rather than deities. Musicians were important figures in such preliterate societies. They not only provided entertainment, but also transmitted common history, mythology, and folklore through their stories and singing.
Provenance
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections (November 9, 1987 to September 25, 1988)
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), November 9, 1987 to January 10, 1988
- Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth), February 13 to May 15, 1988
- M. H. de Young Memorial Museum (San Francisco), June 25 to September 25, 1988
Rings: Five Passions in World Art (July 4 to September 29, 1996)
- High Museum of Art (Atlanta), July 4 to September 29, 1996
Ancient Art from the Permanent Collection (March 16, 1999 to May 23, 2004)
- The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), March 16, 1999 to May 23, 2004
Silent Witnesses: Early Cycladic Art of the Third Millennium B.C. (April 4 to June 30, 2002)
- Onassis Cultural Center (New York), April 4 to June 30, 2002
Prehistoric Arts of the Eastern Mediterranean (February 11 to May 4, 2003)
- The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), February 11 to May 4, 2003
Bibliography
Bibliography
Getz-Preziosi, Pat. "The Male Figure in Early Cycladic Sculpture." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal 15 (1981), pp. 5-33, pp. 22-25, ill.
Getz-Preziosi, Pat. Early Cycladic Sculpture (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1985), pl. IV b; figs. 24 and 25; cover.
Armstrong, A. H. Classical Mediterranean Spirituality (London: SCM Press, 1986), p. 202, fig. 16.
The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 1st ed. (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1986), p. 27.
"Acquisitions/1985." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 14 (1986), p. 179, no. 1.
Fernandez, I. G. "J. Paul Getty Museum." Revista de Arqueologia 115 (1990), pp. 48-56, p. 50, ill.
The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 3rd ed. (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991), p. 19.
Theodorou, J. "Cycladic Art at the Getty." The Greek American (July 25, 1992), pp. 8-9, 14, p. 8, ill.
Vallera-Rickerson, I., and M. Korma. "Merika ellenika ekthemata tou Mouseiou Getty." Archaiologia 43 (1992), pp. 84-87, p. 84, fig. 1.
Gill, David W. J., and C. Chippendale. "Material and Intellectual Consequences of Esteem for Cycladic Figures." American Journal of Archaeology 97, no. 4 (October 1993), pp. 601-59, pp. 608, 619, 645, figs. 3a-c.
The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 4th ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 17.
Schaik, Martin van. The Marble Harp Players from the Cyclades (Utrecht: Dutch Study Group on Music Archaeology [NWM], 1998), pp. 18, 55, passim; pl. 7.
Brand, Helmut. Griechische Musikanten im Kult: von der Frühzeit bis zum Beginn der Spätklassik. (Dettelbach: J.H. Röll, 2000), pp. 11, 174, cat. Kykl 6.
The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 6th ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2001), p. 17.
Doumas, Christos G. Silent Witnesses: Early Cycladic Art of the Third Millennium B.C., exh. cat. Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA), April 9-June 15, 2002 (New York: Onassis Foundation, 2002), p. 76, no. 22.
The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Antiquities Collection (Los Angeles: 2002), p. 8.
Grossman, Janet Burnett. Looking at Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), pp. xiv, back cover, ill.
Pasetti, Anna. Non arguta sonant tenui psalteria chorda (Bologna: UT Orpheus Edizioni, 2004), pp. 46-47, fig. 47.
Spivey, Nigel and Squire, Michael. Panorama of the Classical World (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2004), p. 278, fig. 436.
Baxter, John. "The Entrance to a World: Helen Pinkerton's 'Bright Fictions'." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 59, no. 3 (Spring 2007), pp. 160, 179 (photo).
The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 7th ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007), p. 4, ill.
The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Antiquities Collection. Rev. ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010), p. 8.