DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0138
9o THE EARLIEST HELLENIC STONE STATUES
of final proof, whereas the details of drapery and embroidery
are clear beyond dispute. In fact this torso, together with
the Dipylon head, can rank among the finest examples extant
of sculpture in which the process of abrasion is responsible
for the bulk of the final work and so for the artistic skill and
effect of the whole.
Following directly on from this early group, which mostly
belongs to the late seventh century, or at least about 600 B.C.,
comes that splendid masterpiece of craftsmanship, the Kore,
acquired in 1924 by the Berlin Museum and known to have
come from Attica. Here again we see the characteristically
deep eyebrow grooves, neatly and perfectly scooped out by
abrasion, the hollows under the eyes and the moulding of
the face rendered in the same way. Most marked too is the
groove of the upper lip which has been rubbed to a sharp
edge, the rubbed surface being pressed far into the cheek
in an almost disconcerting way. The vertical grooves of
the hair are likewise fashioned by a process of vertical
rubbing.
It is, in fact, evident that in Attica, perhaps more than in any
other place, this technique was used to its full extent in the
seventh and early sixth centuries. Unfortunately the gaps
in our knowledge of the history of Greek sculpture are so
serious that we are unable to explain how such mature and
relatively sophisticated masterpieces as the Dipylon head
have no antecedents in stone that are as yet known. For they
have no parallel except the figures in ivory (see above, p. 46),
also from the Dipylon. The latter are earlier in date, but they
throw no sort or kind of light upon stone technique, since the
manner of their making belongs to the craft of carving in soft
materials. At some time in the seventh century in Attica this
method of finishing a statue in all its final detail—the main
work of the sculptor, that is to say, after the blocking out—
almost entirely by the aid of rubbing tools of stone, became
the technique of Attic sculptors. Work like the Dipylon
head should normally be expected to have had a reasonably
of final proof, whereas the details of drapery and embroidery
are clear beyond dispute. In fact this torso, together with
the Dipylon head, can rank among the finest examples extant
of sculpture in which the process of abrasion is responsible
for the bulk of the final work and so for the artistic skill and
effect of the whole.
Following directly on from this early group, which mostly
belongs to the late seventh century, or at least about 600 B.C.,
comes that splendid masterpiece of craftsmanship, the Kore,
acquired in 1924 by the Berlin Museum and known to have
come from Attica. Here again we see the characteristically
deep eyebrow grooves, neatly and perfectly scooped out by
abrasion, the hollows under the eyes and the moulding of
the face rendered in the same way. Most marked too is the
groove of the upper lip which has been rubbed to a sharp
edge, the rubbed surface being pressed far into the cheek
in an almost disconcerting way. The vertical grooves of
the hair are likewise fashioned by a process of vertical
rubbing.
It is, in fact, evident that in Attica, perhaps more than in any
other place, this technique was used to its full extent in the
seventh and early sixth centuries. Unfortunately the gaps
in our knowledge of the history of Greek sculpture are so
serious that we are unable to explain how such mature and
relatively sophisticated masterpieces as the Dipylon head
have no antecedents in stone that are as yet known. For they
have no parallel except the figures in ivory (see above, p. 46),
also from the Dipylon. The latter are earlier in date, but they
throw no sort or kind of light upon stone technique, since the
manner of their making belongs to the craft of carving in soft
materials. At some time in the seventh century in Attica this
method of finishing a statue in all its final detail—the main
work of the sculptor, that is to say, after the blocking out—
almost entirely by the aid of rubbing tools of stone, became
the technique of Attic sculptors. Work like the Dipylon
head should normally be expected to have had a reasonably