The Stargazer
- Marble
- Circa 3000 BCE
- Origin undetermined
- Current Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
- Ownership disputed by: Turkey
Statuette of a Woman: The Stargazer is one of the oldest, complete sculptures of a human being. The Statuette is thought to be from the Early Bronze Age, circa 3000 BCE.
Idols like The Stargazer are thought to be religious or fertility symbols; it is believed to represent a woman with the incised triangle as the pelvis. She gets her name because her head is tilted up as if looking at the divine heaven.
The statuettes origin cannot be confirmed, but it is thought to be from Western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) based on similar relics found in the same area. At some point, the statuette was acquired by Nelson Rockefeller, in which he loaned it to the now defunct Museum of Primitive Art in the 1970’s. The piece passed thru a couple of private sales before being acquired by The Cleveland Museum of Art in 1993.
In March of 2012, the Turkish government released a list of 22 artifacts currently owned by The Cleveland Museum of Art as potentially looted or illegally exported. They have requested to examine the items and review their provenance.
The Cleveland Museum’s only comment on the matter is from Director David Franklin - “We don’t want to have an open discussion about this in the media,” Franklin said. “We don’t think that’s productive.”
As of 2017, The Stargazer is still property of The Cleveland Museum of Art. It is unknown whether they have shared their private files with the Turkish Government.
Idols like The Stargazer are thought to be religious or fertility symbols; it is believed to represent a woman with the incised triangle as the pelvis. She gets her name because her head is tilted up as if looking at the divine heaven.
The statuettes origin cannot be confirmed, but it is thought to be from Western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) based on similar relics found in the same area. At some point, the statuette was acquired by Nelson Rockefeller, in which he loaned it to the now defunct Museum of Primitive Art in the 1970’s. The piece passed thru a couple of private sales before being acquired by The Cleveland Museum of Art in 1993.
In March of 2012, the Turkish government released a list of 22 artifacts currently owned by The Cleveland Museum of Art as potentially looted or illegally exported. They have requested to examine the items and review their provenance.
The Cleveland Museum’s only comment on the matter is from Director David Franklin - “We don’t want to have an open discussion about this in the media,” Franklin said. “We don’t think that’s productive.”
As of 2017, The Stargazer is still property of The Cleveland Museum of Art. It is unknown whether they have shared their private files with the Turkish Government.