Marble bowl

Technical analysis: Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence examination, optical microscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy


This shallow bowl, carved from white marble, is intact except for two damaged areas along the rim. One is a relatively small loss that has been filled. The larger loss has been repaired using a marble fragment from a similar type of vessel. The fragment was bonded in place and filled along the join. There are a few areas of encrustation near the rim and covering the underside. A layer of red pigment identified as cinnabar extends over most of the interior of the vessel.


The bowl has a slightly recessed base and a thickened, rolled rim that would have helped to prevent spillage. Containers and bowls with traces of pigments, such as the cinnabar in this example, suggest that some utilitarian vessels were used to mix paints applied to Cycladic figures and, perhaps, human bodies in both life and death.


Alexis Belis, Federico Carò, and Wendy Walker