bronze Cycladic Keros torso

Height: 8.5cm

The so-called Keros Hoard, excavated on the island of Keros, consisted of at least 350 figurines dating to ca 2800-2300 BC. These originals were taken out of Greece in the 1950s and distributed to various museums and private collections. The fate of many of them is unknown. 81 of the pieces were repatriated and are now on display in the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens.

Original Cycladic figurines, carved in marble, were produced during the third millennium BC. They are remarkable for their abstract simplicity, which inspired Picasso, Modigliani, and Moore.

Cycladic art originates from a group of islands in the southwestern Aegean, comprising some thirty small islands, 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) around the sacred island of Delos, the site of the holiest sanctuary to Apollo and the island thought to be the birthplace of the god and his twin sister Artemis.

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 proud to have been working with the Semitekolo family foundry since 1999. It has been a privilege to handle these gorgeous pieces and to sell them to customers all over the world.