Details

LOT 0402

Marble Archaic Kouros Statue

20TH CENTURY A.D.

28 in. (16.5 kg, 71 cm high).

A Greek style marble archaic kouros statue carved with braided hair held by a diadem, arms held straight at the sides, legs in advancing pose.

Provenance

French collection, 1960s-early 2000s.
From an important Paris gallery, France.

Footnotes

The kouros (free-standing nude male youth) first appeared in ancient Greece in the Archaic Greek period; kouros figures have been found across the Greek-speaking world, concentrated mainly in sanctuaries of Apollo. The term means ‘male youth, particularly one of noble rank’; when a pubescent boy came of age in ancient Greece, he was known as a kouros, at which point he could participate in the initiation feast of the brotherhood. The god Apollo was known as the greatest kouros. Typically life-sized, these figures were produced in marble, but have also been found in limestone, wood, bronze and terracotta. The female counterpart is the kore.