Cycladic marble figurines that appeared as early as the sixth millennium B.C. are known for their beauty, simplicity, and their proportion, but they also have a fame for being looted. For my final project, I created a timeline for the repatriation of the Cycladic marble figurines, hoping for recognition of the loss of cultural heritage in the process of looting and transactions of artworks of unknown provenance.
Byline:
Xinran Wang is a member of Colgate Class of 2026. She’s currently undecided, but she is interested in art history. She chose to write about the looting and the repatriation of Cycladic figurines because her interest was aroused by the illicit excavation and trading of the Cycladic figurines and the actions that museums and private collectors took afterwards.
