Colossal (larger than life) standing male nude.
This is one of the tallest kouroi to survive from Ancient Greece. Being early, this sculpture is stylised in its carving; the eyes, ears and shoulder blades, for example. The sculptor seems to have emphasised the repeated Y-shaped patterns in its throat, thighs, ribcage, and even on the ends of its headband behind his head.
This kouros was found on the spectacular headland overlooking the sea at Sunium in Greece. Poseidon, appropriately enough for that location, is the god of the ocean.
The cast was taken from the original when the latter had restorations on it; the restorations were removed from this cast in 1959 or 1960
Athens, National Museum 2720
Purchased from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen in 1933
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 38 (n.6); pl. 10.1
Buschor, E, Frühgriechische Junglinge (1950): 22, pls. 23-28
Matz: Geschichte der Griechische Kunst, 190-2, figs.105-109
Richter, Kouroi: 62, no.2, pl. IX, 27-33
Rhomaios, K, Antike Denkmäler IV (1930-1), pls. 47-56
Papaspiridi: Guide du Musée Nationale d’Athènes (1927), 25-
Stewart: Greek Sculpture, 111, pls. 44-5
From the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Sunium
