bronze Cycladic turtle-dove on an integrated pedestal

Turtle-doves, which the Greeks call 'peristeri', were, in Greek mythology, the birds of love, sacred to the goddess Aphrodite. Doves were said to draw her heavenly chariot, and her seven daughters, the Pleiades, are known as the 'flock of doves'.

The bird was also sacred to Demeter, the goddess of the fertility of the earth.

There is also our familiar reference to the dove with an olive branch, representing Eirene, the Greek goddess of peace and harmony.

Way before Aphrodite's time, birds—specifically doves—were popular and significant motifs in Cycladic sculpture ca 2700–2300 BCE. Just like the minimalist, abstract human figurines, these stylised birds were sculpted from local white marble, with no facial features, wings, beaks or claws. It seems likely that to these inhabitants of the Cyclades, the dove was a symbol of fertility, life, and rebirth. In subsequent centuries, the dove became permanently associated with Aphrodite.

The bronze pieces are cast in Greece using the traditional lost wax method. As nothing is mass-produced, there will inevitably be slight variations in texture, patina, and colour. No two pieces are ever the same. If mounted on a marble base, it will be a black or very dark grey base. There may be a variation of some millimetres in the dimensions of the base from time to time.

It's All Greek is so grateful and so proud to have been working closely with the Semitekolo family foundry since 1999. It has been a privilege and a joy to handle, live with, to photograph and describe these gorgeous pieces, before passing them on to enthusiastic customers all over the world.

Original Cycladic figurines, carved in marble, were produced during the third millennium BC. They are remarkable for their abstract simplicity, which is believed to have inspired many artists, among them Picasso and Modigliani.

Cycladic art originates from a group of some 30 islands in the southwestern Aegean sea, including Naxos and Paros, which were known for the quality of their marble. The ancient Greeks called these islands the Kyklades, imagining them as falling within a circle (kyklos) centred around the sacred island of Delos, the birthplace of Apollo and his twin sister Artemis, and the site of their holiest sanctuary.

These Cycladic pieces in bronze and marble are copies of originals in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and in the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens.