Bastis Master: Cycladic Figure Sculpture from The Met Museum

This stunningly abstract sculpture was reproduced from an enigmatic marble statuette of a woman. The nude figure crosses her hands across her chest, while her head is flattened and resembles the blade of a spade. The original, made ca. 2600-2400 B.C, is from the Cyclades, an island group in the Aegean Sea rich in marble, emery, and obsidian (a volcanic glass). Inhabitants of these islands began to produce marble figures and vessels as early as the fifth millennium B.C. Little is know about them, but scholars attribute this figure to a Cycladic artist called the Bastis Master, recognizable for a stylization of the human body that is elegant almost to the point of mannerism. Made with a combination of digital imaging and traditional sculpture techniques.