A Cycladic marble female idol, Early Spedos Type, Early Cycladic II, 2700-2500 B.C. Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 (€55,000 - 82,000). Photo: Bonhams.

Sculpted with a rounded lyre-shaped head tilted backward with the nose upwards, set upon a short thick neck, the arms folded beneath the breasts, the stomach gently curving above the incised pubic area, the thighs with a deep groove between extending into an open cleft between the bulging calves, the feet angled downwards and pointed outwards, with a slight groove on the soles, a vertical groove down the spine and along the buttocks, 20.6cm high

Provenance: American private collection, New York.
With Joseph Rondina, New York, 1984. Accompanied by a copy of the receipt.
Christie's East, Furniture, paintings, decorative objects and rugs, oriental works of art, tribal art and antiquities and the Edward S. Bundy collection of trophy mounts, 20-21 November, 1984, lot 90.
Edward S. Bundy Collection before 1984.

Literature: This figure belongs to a group of Early Spedos figures which have an angled profile resulting from the backward tilt of their heads and their bent knees. For a similar example in the British Museum (A23), cf. J.L. Fitton, Cycladic Art, London, 1989, pp. 41-2, figs. 43-4. For other examples of the type, cf. J. Thimme, Art and Culture of the Cyclades, Chicago, 1977, pp. 254-8.

BONHAM'S. ANTIQUITIES, 16 Apr 2015 10:30 BST - LONDON, NEW BOND STREET