Torso of an Idol

A large torso, broken off at the base of the neck and the midriff, carved from marble with a beige patina. The broad, slightly angular shoulders taper towards a slimmer waist. The true left arm is folded across the body above the true right arm. The fingers on each hand are delineated with simple carved lines. Two widely spaced breasts are modelled above the hands. A long, straight line representing the spine is carved vertically down the otherwise unadorned back. This probably falls into the Spedos group of Cycladic sculptures. This figure is very close to those grouped by Getz-Gentle as the works of the ‘Copenhagen Master’, due to its slender proportions, near-vertical silhouette, the low-placed breasts above the horizontal crossed arms, and the shallow groove used to delineate the spine. Getz-Gentle believes this artist came from the island of Naxos, and examples of works attributed to this master can be found in museums around the world.

The Cyclades are an archipelago of around 30 small islands, islets, and rocks formed from the exposed summits of two submerged mountain ridges in the Aegean Sea. In classical times the name Cyclades referred specifically to the islands thought to form a circle around the holy island of Delos, the birthplace of Artemis and Apollo (the modern name includes other islands that were previously grouped separately). The Cyclades took an important role in the culture of the Early Bronze Age civilisation of the Aegean Basin, as the islands form a natural stepping stone between Brete, mainland Greece, and Asia Minor. Much of the evidence we have for the Early Cycladic period comes from goods and objects that were found in tombs on the islands. Tombs contain a range of objects in different materials: tools and weapons of Melian obsidian and bronze; shell, stone, bone, bronze and silver jewellery; elaborately carved soapstone boxes. However, marble was clearly the preferred material for sculpting. The marble came mainly from the islands of Naxos and Keros, and some from Paros and Ios.

Figures of the so-called ‘canonical’ type were exclusively produced in the period known as Early Cycladic II, or Keros-Syros phase (c. 2700-2400/2300 B.C). Five different categories of folded-arm figures have been identified, though there is a great deal of overlap between them. The Spedos variety (named after a cemetery on the island of Naxos) is the type produced and disseminated most widely, which seems to have covered the longest period of time. Studies of the consistent proportions of these figures have suggested that they were planned out with a compass to ensure compliance with the canonical form. The meaning and use of such figures remains uncertain, and may have changed across the five centuries in which they were produced. Some archaeologists have suggested that they were produced solely for funerary use, and may have fulfilled the same role as ushabtis in Egyptian graves (to perform work for the owner in the afterlife), as substitutes for human sacrifice, or as guides for the soul of the deceased. Others have suggested they had apotropaic qualities. Another theory is that they represent figures from Cycladic mythology, and even could have been images of the ‘Great Mother’ goddess. There is little evidence for this deity in Cycladic culture, however, and androgynous figures such as this, and some with male genitalia have also been excavated. Some figures were found broken and repaired prior to their placement in the tomb – this suggests that they were used prior to their burial, perhaps within a domestic shrine.

Previously in the Private Collection of the Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, most likely acquired by one of the three main collectors: François de Chasseloup-Laubat (1754-1833), Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat (1805-1873), or Louis de Chasseloup-Laubat (1863-1954), prior to 1939 (photographed in the album of the family art collection, created between 1918 and 1939).
Thence by descent, France.
ALR: S00240643, with IADAA Certificate, this item has been checked against the Interpol database.

François de Chasseloup-Laubat (1754-1833) was born at Saint-Sornin to a noble family, and joined the French engineers in 1774. When the Revolution broke out in 1781, he was still a subaltern, but was promoted to captain in 1791. His skills were recognised in the campaigns of 1792 and 1793, and he was promoted to chef de battaillon and then colonel in the following year. Chasseloup-Laubat was chief of engineers at the siege of Mainz in 1793, before being sent to Italy to work in the advance of Napoleon Bonaparte’s army. Due to his successes in Italy, he was made general of division, and was chosen by Napoleon as engineer general in 1800. In the peacetime between 1801 and 1805, Chasseloup-Laubat worked to reconstruct the defences of northern Italy, including the great fortress of Alessandria on the Tanaro. Napoleon again called him to serve in the Grande Armée in the Polish Campaign in 1806-1807. Chasseloup-Laubat reconstructed many of the fortresses in Germany during Napoleon’s occupation of the region. In 1810 he was made a councillor of state. He retired after the 1812 Russian campaign, but did occasionally work in the inspection and construction of fortifications. Louis XVII made him a peer of France and a knight of St Louis, as well as a marquis. Chasseloup-Laubat spent his final years organising his collection of manuscripts, until his eyesight began to fail. He married Anne-Julie Fresneau de La Gataudière, through whom he acquired the Château de la Gataudière at Marennes, Charente-Maritime.

Their youngest son, Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat (1805-1873) inherited the title of marquis after his elder brother, Justin, died in 1847. His godparents were Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Josephine. He was educated at Lycée Louis-le-Grand before becoming a civil servant. From 1828, he used his father’s connections to gain a position working for the Conseil d’État. Following the July Revolution of 1830, Chasseloup-Laubat became aide-de-camp of the commander of the National Guard, Marquis de La Fayette. He continued working at the Conseil d’État despite the regime change, and was even promoted. In 1836, he worked as an assistant to Jean-Jacques Baude, Royal commissary in Algeria, for whom he worked at Alger, Tunis, Bône, and Constantine. He returned to France after the failed siege of Constantine in November 1836, and was appointed a councillor at the Conseiller d’État in 1838. He also began his political career at this time, and was elected deputy of Charente-Inférieure (the department in which the Château de la Gataudière was located), and was reelected in 1839, 1842, and 1846. He was also a member and later president of the Château de la Gataudière of the departmental council of the Charente-Inférieure.

Despite the Revolution of 1848, he was again elected as deputy for the department in 1849, and he voted with the Conservatives of the Party of Order during the Second Republic. He also served briefly as Minister of Marine under President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. After the coup d’état of December 1851, he was appointed to the consultative commission replacing the Chambre des Députés, and reelected to the government in Charente-Inférieure. An enthusiastic supporter of the French imperial project, he campaigned for the restoration of the Empire, which was approved by referendum in November 1852. He was made a minister in 1859, and appointed a Senator of the Empire in 1862. He retained this position until the fall of the Empire in 1870, making him a key figure of French early colonial expansion. Chasseloup-Labat was Minister at the time of the French conquest of Vietnam, and threatened to resign if Napoleon III agreed to return captured territories in exchange for a French protectorate over the whole of the country. It was during his time in Vietnam that Chasseloup-Labat began to collect objects of art and archaeology.

Along with his wife, Marie-Louise Pilié, he was a key figure in the elaborate social life of the Second Empire, during the period known as the fête impériale. On 13 February 1866, he hosted one of the most flamboyant receptions: a masquerade ball in which he dressed as a Venetian noble to receive his 3,000 guests (including the Emperor and the Empress) in the restored salons of the ministry on the Rue Royale. The reception continued until half past six in the morning, and featured a ‘Cortege of the Nations’, as a symbolic expressions of the host’s political stance and the country’s imperial aspirations.

In 1869, Chasseloup-Laubat was recalled to the government and worked on the constitutional changes to transform the country into a parliamentary monarchy. He was not, however, restored to his position in the new cabinet formed in 1870. The Marquis was also President of the Société de géographie from 1864 until his death. He died in 1873 and is buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Their eldest son, Louis de Chasseloup-Laubat (1863-1954), 5th Marquis of Chasseloup-Laubat, was an engineer who specialised in ship design. He expanded the family collection during his travels across Asia, especially in Japan. He was also president of the French Fencing Federation and co-wrote the rules for international fencing competitions.

Louis’ son, François, inherited his father’s interest in travel and archaeology, becoming a recognised explorer. He travelled extensively across Asia, and was on the first journey to the centre of English Malaya, from which he brought back unpublished documents on the still unknown tribes of the Sakai. He spent several years in French Indochina and China, where he compared archaeological finds with those of his friend, Father Theillard de Chardin. He also travelled to Japan and Korea.

His sister Magdeleine and her husband Achille, Prince Murat, also contributed to the collection, during their world tour through America and Asia in 1926 and 1927.