Anatolian Marble Idol of the Kusura Type

Culture: Anatolia

Period: 2700-2400 B.C.

Material: Marble

Dimensions: 14.8 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 6650

Provenance: From the Swiss private collection of the numismatist Giovanni Maria Staffieri (born 1944), acquired in the 1960s to 1990s.

Condition: Intact and of very beautiful quality. In the back with brown encrustation, the front cleaned.

Description: Large Anatolian marble idol of the so-called Kusura type. The fertility statuettes, also called violin idols because of their shape, originate from the west coast of Asia Minor and are attested far into the hinterland. They are the contemporaries of the famous Cycladic idols. The present example belongs to the Early Bronze Age form without arms and curls. Starting from the circular head the neck broadens downwards and directly merges into the horizontally trapezoidal body, which is rounded at the bottom in fine harmony. The high-quality idol is exceptionally thinly worked out, the surface is slightly curved, the edges grinded. Almost translucent it probably had a special meaning in the fertility rite. See for the type “Kunst und Kultur der Kykladen”, exhibition catalogue of the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, 1976, no. 487, pictured on p. 378, described on p. 548. Mounted.