The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Statuette of a Woman: "The Stargazer"

Statuette of a Woman: "The Stargazer"

c. 3000 BCE
Overall: 17.2 x 6.5 x 6.3 cm (6 3/4 x 2 9/16 x 2 1/2 in.)

Did You Know?

We can identify this mysterious figure as female by the inscribed pubic triangle below her waist.

Description

"The Stargazer" moniker was given to this diminutive marble sculpture because its upturned head looks toward the heavens. Details carved into the stone are visible while painted features have been lost to time. We do not know how this object was used, but its enigmatic nature invites speculation.
  • Said to have been found near Kırşehir, Turkey
    Before 1962
    Nelson Rockefeller
    Melba Davis Whatley Greenlee, Austin, Texas
    (Harmon Fine Arts Collection, Leonard Norman Stern, New York, NY)
    1993-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh
  • Farkas, Ann. Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me: [May 3 to September 6, 1964, the Jewish Museum New York]. New York, NY: Jewish Museum, 1964. No.118
    Merrin Gallery. Masterpieces of Cycladic Art from Private Collections, Museums and the Merrin Gallery. 1989.
    Kozloff, Arielle. "Recent Acquisition: Stargazer." Cleveland Museum of Art Member Magazine 33-34 (1993-1994). p. 7
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Art Museum Acquires Two Exceptional Works,” December 20, 1993, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Litt, Steven. "Museum Turns Loss into Gain via Insurance." The Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 1, 1994.
    "1993 Annual Report." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 6 (1994): 143-218. Reproduced: p. 152; Mentioned: p. 158 www.jstor.org
    Kozloff, Arielle, K., "Stargazer", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 35 no. 02, February 1995 Mentioned & produced: p. 7 archive.org
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. No. 1, p. 6 & 116
    Franklin, David. Director's Choice: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: p. 10 - 11
    Cleveland Museum of Art, David Franklin, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. pp. 8, 14-15
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 66
    Mikolic, Amanda. Statuette of a Woman: The Stargazer is a “must see” at the CMA. CMA Thinker Blog on Medium. Feb. 1, 2019. medium.com
  • Masterpieces of Cycladic Art, Merrin Gallery, New York, NY (3/8/1990 - 4/12/1990)
    Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY (5/3/1964 - 9/6/1964).
    Permanent Gallery Display, The Museum of Primitive Art (on loan from the Nelson Rockefeller Collection) (1962)
  • {{cite web|title=Statuette of a Woman: "The Stargazer"|url=false|author=|year=c. 3000 BCE|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1993.165