Marble carving in the Aegean had achieved high levels of sophistication already from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. 

Marble vessels were highly estimated by Cycladic people as symbols of wealth and social status. Refined and delicate, strictly obeying to the laws of geometry, the Cycladic “phialai”, bowls made of white marble, underline the simplicity of Cycladic Culture and the vigor of its artistic expression.