If you think ancient art is primitive and unsophisticated, the “Harp Player” will change your mind. This marble statuette dates to about 2800 – 2300 BC: nearly 5000 years ago!
It depicts a musician playing a string instrument resting on his thigh. It is probably some kind of harp or lyre, roughly triangular with a swan’s beak shape at the top. The figure is sitting on a very elaborate seat, executed with great skill by the sculptor. This sort of throne unquestionably highlights the importance of the figure and the music he is playing, or perhaps singing or performing: it may be that music brought men closer to the gods!
The face of the figure, looking upwards, appears spellbound; despite the abstract simplicity of the work, you can almost see the inspiration, can’t you? A profound poetic significance is evident in this marvelous sculpture, one of the masterpieces of its time.
The work comes from the Cyclades, which in Greek means “circle”, because the islands are positioned around the main island, Delos, and scattered in the Aegean Sea south of the Attic peninsula where Athens is located.
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