Facial painting is often perceived merely as decoration, but in ancient cultures ornamentation and transformation went hand in hand. When a body or a statue was painted, the act concerned more than appearance alone. Painting the body or a sculpted figure expressed a shift in identity associated with ritual, mourning, transitions between life stages, or the state after death. Pigment both signified status and actively constituted it. In sculpture as well, painted surfaces functioned as tools through which human identity, social role, and phases of life were shaped.
Early aesthetics?
From the Early Cycladic regions of the Greek islands, small marble figurines have been recovered whose surfaces preserve traces of ancient decoration: colour. Dated to approximately 3000–2000 BCE, these sculptures display small dots, lines, and motifs whose red glow derives primarily from bright cinnabar, or more rarely from hematite, with its deep blood-red sheen. In some cases, intense blue azurite is also visible on the faces—once sparkling vividly in light, quite unlike its muted, patinated appearance today behind museum glass.
These markings are not random. The dots and lines resemble tattoos or ephemeral facial paintings applied at moments of transition to initiate change. According to researcher and archaeologist Elisabeth Hendrix, additional painted eyes and other details on figurines may have been deliberately wiped away after ritual use. Transformation may thus have appeared first on the figurine, with the change enacted upon the sculpture subsequently mirrored in the human subject.
Cultural tones
As many Early Cycladic figurines have been found in burial contexts, their significance in relation to death and funerary practice is particularly pronounced. In her research article, Gail Hoffman suggests that figurines from the region with arms crossed over the chest and red vertical lines on the cheeks may have functioned as mourning figures in funerary rites. She proposes that the lines may represent ritualised self-inflicted scratches—bloody marks known in Mediterranean mourning traditions, especially as a women’s ritual practice. This interpretation supports the view that the painted markings may relate to ritual bodily modification enacted through the figurines.
While some buried figurines may have served as mourning figures, evidence of multiple layers of paint on others also points toward a possible ritual life-cycle narrative. Figurines may have been repainted to correspond with stages in the life of their owner or the person represented. Their surfaces recorded ritual transitions such as the passage from childhood to adulthood or the transition into death. Although marble is a durable material that does not easily break (Hendrix, 2024), many figurines nevertheless show signs of fragmentation. These breaks may not represent accidental damage but intentional modification. Figurine alteration can thus be interpreted as reflecting human life stages and narrating significant events in an individual’s life. From this perspective, the figurine functions as an object of transformation in much the same way as the human body itself.
Connections to the living body
Decorative elements that did not imitate anatomical features, jewellery, or textiles could theoretically have been placed anywhere on the figurine. Their repeated appearance in the same locations therefore suggests interpretive significance. In addition to vertical cheek stripes, horizontally arranged dots on the face—appearing on cheeks and brows—recur across multiple figurines. Zigzag motifs and sharp, sinuous forms appear on various parts of the body. According to Hendrix, these differing motifs may reflect bodily and facial painting practices, tattooing, or permanent scarification created through scratching, cutting, or burning the skin.
On the surface
The features of the figurines thus appear closely connected to living bodies, which they represent according to context, social status, or gender. They reveal a method through which identity was ritually produced and reshaped. In the absence of written sources, interpretations remain open, but the repetition of painted markings points to deliberate choice and a potential link to ritual practices or transitional states. Changes to the figurines do not necessarily depict literal physical transformation but rather symbolise liminal or transitional phases. Even the layering or removal of paint may carry symbolic meaning, functioning as a record of the life course.
In contemporary contexts, facial painting often serves playful or aesthetic purposes, yet echoes of the same phenomena expressed by ancient figurines can still be discerned. The face continues to function as a symbolic surface through which colour and pattern articulate identity, belonging, or transition. In sporting events, festivals, or protests, facial painting may signal affiliation, emotion, or values. Although purpose and context have changed, the gesture remains: decorating the face continues to operate as a means of expressing transformation, status, or participation—just as it did in the ritual contexts of the Early Cycladic world.
By: Meri Kallio
Sources:
Hendrix, Elisabeth A. (2024). “The Painted Details on Early Cycladic Marble Figures”. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Met Essays.
Hoffman, Gail. L. (2002). “Painted Ladies: Early Cycladic II Mourning Figures?” American Journal of Archeology. Vol. 106, 4. The University of Chicago Press Journals.
Hendrix, Elisabeth A. (2003). “Painted Early Cycladic Figures: An Exploration of Context and Meaning.” Hesperia.
