greek bronzes in the metropolitan museum of art the metropolitan museum of art bulletin v 43 no 2...

68
A 5t C?; ~

Upload: sergio-lobo

Post on 24-Nov-2015

31 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • A 5t

    C?;~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  • BY JOAN R. M\ERTENS

  • ~,:- ,

    IE')~~~~~~~~~

    ,_~~~~~

    Bulletin

    a Fall 1985

    i,

    E'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i

    The Metropolitan Museum of Artis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletinwww.jstor.org

  • FRONT covE: Herakles (no. 14), last quarter of the sixth century B.C. INSIDE FRONT COVER: Head of a griffin (no. 9), third quarter of the seventh century B.C. BACK COVER: Hermes (no. 43), first century B.C. to first century A.D.

    The translations are based upon those of the Loeb Classical Library.

    Reprinted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Fall 1985). ? 1985 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photography by Walter J. F. Yee, Metropolitan Museum Photograph Studio. Design: Peter Oldenburg

    The Metropolitan Museum of Artis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletinwww.jstor.org

  • S ince antiquity the Age of Bronze has been customarily characterized as a rude sequel to the glorious ages of gold and silver. This third generation of mortals created by the gods on Mount Olympos was, according to Hesiod, "a brazen race, sprung from ash-trees; ... in no way equal to [the preceding] silver age, but was terrible and strong." Lovers of violence, they developed unconquerable strength. Their armor was of bronze, their houses of bronze, and they used bronze implements. Their brutality was such that they destroyed themselves. Given Hesiod's description, one might expect that from this early time Greek bronze workers devoted themselves to the production of weapons and armor. The Museum's collection of Greek bronzes provides striking evidence to the contrary. Out of the durable medium of bronze skilled Greek craftsmen created some ofthe most beautiful and mem- orable works in the history of Western art. Graceful figures, charming animals, luxurious utensils, and handsomely decorated armor were all fashioned with great sensitivity from bronze.

    While ancient literary sources tell us that many bronzes were melted down-as were objects of gold and silver-a far greater number of works survive than those made of more precious metals. It takes a sharp eye, perseverance, an innate sense of quality, and careful scholarship to form a first-rank collec- tion of bronzes. The Metropolitan has been fortunate to have had the support of knowledgeable donors as well as an inspired curatorial staff in assembling a group of Greek bronzes that is one of the finest and richest anywhere.

    There was no question of presenting the collection here in its entirety; indeed, in order to allow for plentiful illustrations, only forty-four pieces were selected for inclusion in this Bulletin. Chosen for their exceptional quality and their historic or iconographic interest, these bronzes span the history of Greek art from the eighth century B.C. to Roman times. Most of them are small objects, and here, reproduced in several views, they can be fully appreciated as impressive sculptures. For example, the little centaur (no. 26) hurls his rock with all the force of his larger counterparts, despite the fact that he is only one and three-quarters inches high.

    As distinguished as the works themselves are many of the collectors who at one time or another owned these objects. Foremost among them is the late Walter C. Baker, whose bequest in 1971 brought a bounty of masterpieces, the best known being the veiled dancer (no. 32); ten works from his collection are included in this publication. Other distinguished connoisseurs of bronzes represented by works reproduced on these pages are Count Michael Tyszkiewicz and Vladimir Simkhovitch. An accomplished museum curator ranks with these discerning private collectors. Under Dietrich von Bothmer, Chairman of the Department of Greek and Roman Art, significant objects have been added to our holdings, including the majestic rams (no. 17) and the poignant artisan (no. 41). Norbert Schimmel has been a true friend ofthe department-in this area as in many others-allowing us to exhibit his grand Dionysiac mask (no. 40) alongside the Museum's two masks (nos. 38,39) in the galleries.

    I wish to express my gratitude to the anonymous donor of the Classical Fund and to George Ortiz for enabling the Museum to publish this Bulletin in as full and generously illustrated fashion as it is. Written by Joan R. Mertens, Curator and Administrator of the Department of Greek and Roman Art, this issue is intended as an introduction to Greek bronzes-revealing their variety, their quality of execution, and the pleasure of viewing them. I hope that it will encourage readers to make a lei- surely visit to the galleries-or several visits-and to take the time to thoroughly study and enjoy these masterpieces. It is also my hope that in the near future their present installation in the Metro- politan, which has been provisional for all too long, will be changed to one that is worthy of these splendid bronzes.

    Philippe de Montebello Director

    The Metropolitan Museum of Artis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletinwww.jstor.org

  • INTRODUCTION

    "And your own images in Greece, how are they fashioned?... Your artists, then, like Phidias and like Praxiteles went up, I suppose, to heaven and made a model of the forms of the gods and then reproduced them by their art, or was there something else that attended upon them as they did their molding?"

    "There was," said Apollonius, "something else, full of wisdom [sophia]."

    "What was that," said the other, "for surely you would not say that it was some- thing other than imitation [mimesis]?"

    "Imagination [phantasia]," he said, "wrought these works, a wiser craftsman than imitation; for imitation crafts what it has seen, while imagination crafts what it has not seen; for it conceives according to the standard of what exists. Shock often deadens imitation, but nothing affects phantasy, which marches undaunted toward the goal that it has set itself"

    Flavius Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana (6.19)

    The Metropolitan Museum of Artis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletinwww.jstor.org

  • K( een observation combined with seemingly inexhaustible creativity is a hallmark of Greek art in all of its forms. Nowhere does it impress us more imme- diately, however, than in the statuettes and utensils of bronze that were an integral part of Greek life. They survive from the ninth century B.C. through the period of assimilation to Roman styles that began during the second century B.C. Although the paintings on Greek vases offer pictures of contemporary men, women, and children-what they did and how they visualized their gods and heroes-bronze statuettes have the property of being three-dimensional, of being palpably real. While large-scale sculpture survives, much of it consists of copies after originals that no longer exist. The majority of bronze statuettes, by contrast, have the dis- tinction of being the original works that the ancient artists made.

    When these artists dealt with things that they saw around them-human beings, animals, utensils-our admiration is directed particularly to the way in which they captured and depicted the distinctive qualities of the subject. What we may not sufficiently consider today is the tangible form that the craftsmen gave to a wide range of subjects upon which no one had ever set eyes: the hero Herakles, the goddess Athena, Eros, the personification of love, griffins, centaurs, and satyrs, to mention only examples that occur here. While these inhabitants of the imagination acquired attributes by which to be recognized-the club and lion skin of Herakles, for instance-every artist contributed his own interpreta- tion. The resulting statuettes are often memorable because the form perfectly suits the subject and the articulation is so precise that, thanks to our eyes and fin- gertips, we have a real presence before us.

    The bronzes represent one of two kinds of object: either they were made to be freestanding, in which case they normally stand on their own base, or they were the decorative adjuncts to a utensil. Their beauty might suggest that in antiquity, as in modem times, they were collected and enjoyed for their own sake. In fact, they were intended to serve a purpose, their aesthetic qualities being secondary. Through the fifth century B.C., at least, freestanding figural bronzes were pro- duced as dedications, offerings to a god frequently placed in a sanctuary and inscribed with a text to that effect; the lyre player (no. 15), for instance, has inscribed on the back, "Dolichos dedicated me." The hydria, or water jar (no. 23), shows engraved around the top of the mouth, "one of the prizes from Argive Hera." Such utilitarian objects, actually made to be used, might ultimately also be dedicated as offerings.

    These two considerations-that the objects had a function to perform and that a figure of a human or an animal could be integrated naturally into a utensil-are absolutely basic to an understanding of Greek bronzes. The artist's hand in the service of his eye fashioned the upper body of a woman (opposite) that is immediately recognizable and remarkable for the articulation of her face, gar- ment, and hair. His hand working in the service of his imagination leaves us with no sense of discomfort or incongruity that she forms the transition between the mouth and handle of a water jar. The figure embellishes the utensil; the utensil gives purpose to the figure. Moreover, as the object is used, the mutually rein- forcing three-dimensionality of vase and figure comes to the fore.

    By the eighth century B.C., the date of the earliest object in this Bulletin, bronze working had already enjoyed a long history in the Greek world. Indeed, the

    Above: Detail of the hydria (no. 23) showing the inscription Opposite: Woman at the handle of the hydria

    5

  • Bronze Age is the name conventionally applied to the latest period of Greek pre- history, about 3200 to 1200 B.C. Preserved objects and ancient literary sources tes- tify to the use of other metals at that time: gold, silver, lead, tin, electrum, and, rarely, iron. Bronze, the alloy composed of approximately 90 percent copper and 10 percent tin, by far predominated, however, for weapons, tools, and vessels, as well as for statuettes. Among the available metals, it was the hardest and strong- est; at the same time, it could be formed into complex shapes, like fishhooks. The technology of preparing the alloys, of casting or hammering the object, and of finishing it had been fully mastered so that, in this respect, there were no obstacles to production. (A description of how bronzes were made appears at the end of this essay.) The most common material for containers, loom weights, dedicatory objects, and other necessities of daily life was fired clay. Where durability and/or the distinction of a rarer material came into play, bronze was used.

    Archaeological investigation makes it possible to follow the evidence for bronze working back into the fourth millennium B.C. Yet, it is really only in the poems of Homer, who is generally believed to have lived during the eighth cen- tury B.C., that we are given a social and human context within which to relate the surviving material. The poet, for instance, vividly describes a forge in the course of recounting how Thetis went to the divine smith Hephaistos to obtain a second set of armor for her son Achilles.

    So saying he left her there and went to his bellows, and he turned these toward the fire and bade them work. And the bellows, twenty in all, blew upon the melt- ing vats, sending forth a ready blast of every force, now to further him as he labored hard, and again in whatsoever way Hephaistos might wish and his work go on. And on the fire he put stubborn copper and tin and precious gold and sil- ver; and thereafter he set on the anvil-block a great anvil, and took in one hand a massive hammer, and in the other he took the tongs (Iliad 18.468-477).

    Homer lived about five hundred years later than the Trojan War and its after- math treated in his poems. While perhaps not so barren as once thought, the intervening centuries produced virtually no great art in any form. During the tenth century, however, artistic creativity reawakened and, by 750 B.C., the prevail- ing style, called "Geometric" in modem scholarship, was reaching its apogee. The name derives from such simple geometric shapes as triangles, circles, and rectangles that were used as filling ornament as well as elaborated into the sub- jects of figural scenes. Vase painting and bronze working were the primary media.

    The Geometric period (about 1000-700 B.C.) is of considerable importance for bronze working. First, it introduces many figure types that remained in the reper- toire for centuries. The male occurs in various guises-nude, as a warrior, or as a votary. There are animals, notably horses and birds, as well as mythical creatures such as centaurs and griffins. Most remarkable is the style, which presents any given subject in its most elemental form, practically devoid of detail. Thus, stat- uettes of horses (nos. 3,4) show us little more than essentials: the head, arching neck, body, four legs, and tail that anyone would enumerate in describing the creature. Similarly, an armorer (no. 8) consists fundamentally of the torso and limbs of a human figure disposed so that his legs indicate that he is sitting on the ground and his upper body and arms are directed toward the helmet before him. The manner of representation is perfectly clear and immediate, often also con- summately elegant. The basic Greek iconographical types were born, so to speak, in the simplest, most expressive forms possible.

    A second significant feature of Geometric bronze work is that it documents the

    6

  • basic ways of using the material: in three dimensions, for statuettes and utensils; in relief to decorate objects such as tripod cauldrons, which were popular at this time; and as the surface for incised decoration, best illustrated by a class of fibula, or safety pin. Thus, in the revival that took place during the early first millennium B.C., the various possibilities for artistic expression developed hand in hand with subject and style.

    A third significant aspect of Geometric bronzes concerns the geographical cen- ters where, on the one hand, works were produced and where, on the other, they were particularly favored as dedications. Although scholars may disagree on the localization of a specific object, there is little doubt that major centers of pro- duction existed in Laconia, the Argolid, Corinth, Attica, Boeotia, and Thessaly, as well as on Crete and other islands. The single most important sanctuary at which Geometric bronzes were dedicated is Olympia, but major concentrations of material have also come to light in Athens, Sparta, Delphi, the Argive Heraion, and on Samos. (See map on p. 14.)

    However one approaches these early works-technically, iconographically, geographically-they are very much at the head of a long tradition. They enjoy the additional distinction of representing probably the most progressive area of sculptural creativity in their day. Apart from primitive images of wood described in literary sources, there was no large-scale sculpture, and contemporary terra- cottas cannot match the effect of volume and vitality in a work like the man and centaur (no. 7). It is quite fair to say that for roughly a hundred years, until the end of the eighth century B.C., bronzes were at the forefront of Greek sculptural development.

    The Archaic period, which is conventionally dated from about 700 B.C. to the Persian sack of the Athenian Akropolis in 480 B.C., saw the first flowering of Greek sculpture in stone, terracotta, and bronze. Our knowledge of artistic develop- ments is enhanced by ancient literary evidence, of which two passages are partic- ularly pertinent to bronzes: they are from the history of the Persian Wars written by Herodotos, who lived in the fifth century B.C., and they give us a point of chronological reference through the mention of Croesus, king of Lydia, who reigned from about 561 to 546 B.C. The objects described in the quotations; the glimpse into relations between Sparta, Lydia, and Samos, three important states that were also centers of metalworking; the colorful exaggeration of the accounts-all of these features provide a fitting introduction to this time of spec- tacular, perhaps even unparalleled, achievement in Greek bronze working. (In the quotation, the Lacedaemonians are the people of Lacedaemon, the region with its center at Sparta; "Laconia" is a short variant of Lacedaemon.)

    The Lacedaemonians declared themselves ready to serve Croesus, king of Lydia, when he should require, and moreover they made a bowl of bronze, with figures in relief outside round the rim, and large enough to hold twenty-seven hundred gallons.... The bowl never came to Sardis, and for this two reasons are given: the Lacedaemonians say that when the bowl was near Samos on its way to Sardis, the Samians descended upon them in warships and carried it off; but the Samians themselves say that the Lacedaemonians who were bringing the bowl, being too late, and learning that Sardis and Croesus were taken, sold it in Samos to certain private men, who set it up in the temple of Hera. And it may be that the sellers of the bowl, when they returned to Sparta, said that they had been robbed of it by the Samians (The Persian Wars 1. 70).

    In another passage, Herodotos tells of a dedication made by a group of Samians with a tithe of their profits reaped from a trading voyage to southern Spain, probably for ores: "The Samians took six talents... and made therewith a

    7

  • Copper ingot, twelfth century B.c. Rogers Fund, 1911 (11.140.7)

    bronze vessel, like an Argolic krater, with griffins' heads projecting from the rim all around; this they set up in their temple of Hera, supporting it with three colossal kneeling figures of bronze, each seven cubits high" (4.152).

    An important fact brought out by these passages is how Archaic bronzes, from their production to their distribution, effectively linked one end of the Mediter- ranean world to the other. To begin with the metal ores required for the bronze industry, copper was mined at Chalkis on Euboea, in Macedonia, in Thessaly, on various islands (most conspicuously Cyprus), as well as in southwestern Spain and northern Italy; a copper ingot in the Museum's collections, probably of the twelfth century B.C., shows one of the forms in which ores were transported throughout antiquity. Tin had to be imported from Britain and Spain. Dangerous as these expeditions must have been, the rewards were handsome, as indicated by Herodotos's account of the tithe in the form of a griffin cauldron dedicated by the Samians.

    While Herodotos particularly highlights Laconia and Samos in the selections cited, the number of places where the raw materials were made into objects con- tinued to proliferate, throughout the Greek mainland and islands as well as far- ther afield. In the west there were workshops in the Greek colonies of southern Italy, notably Locri and Tarentum. By stylistic comparison with stone sculpture and terracottas, bronzes have also been attributed to eastern Greece, the coastal cities of Asia Minor, although the major centers have not so far been adequately identified and characterized.

    The subsequent movement of finished pieces destined for dedications, for gifts, or for trade, which were occasionally carried off as plunder, is vividly described by Herodotos as well. Within the present selection, the mirror (no. 11) is a good example; it was probably made in the northeastern Peloponnesos and came to light in Cyprus. Whatever the original purpose of these objects may have been, they often ultimately became offerings. Indeed, thanks to such sanctuary sites as Olympia, Samos, Delphi, Dodona, and Perachora, the archaeological record for the Archaic period is extremely rich, providing evidence for the expanded range offigural subjects and types of object. The female figure, for instance, which had been rare in Geometric art, now comes into its own, often in connection with utensils, such as mirrors, that one assumes were favored by women. Similarly, armor and weapons have come down to us in quantity and in examples of superlative workmanship. Body armor-helmets, cuirasses, thigh guards, shin guards, and ankle guards-deserves close attention, being shaped and articulated in accordance with the part of the body that it covered. In the absence of life-size bronze sculpture, the cuirasses particularly illustrate the evo- lution of anatomical rendering from stylization to greater naturalism.

    If, indeed, the major accomplishment of Archaic bronze statuettes were to be characterized, it might legitimately be said that the essential forms developed by Geometric artists now acquired flesh and blood. The warrior (no. 1) impresses us by the clarity and economy with which he conveys the ideas of being a man and wielding a weapon. The youth (no. 13) invites us to admire the modeling of his body, the detail of his long hair, his lifelikeness. This development is as evident in subjects of the imagination, like griffins (no. 9) and gorgon heads (no. 19), as in those that the artists saw around them. When Herodotos was writing, bronze objects of the Geometric period were still visible. Thus, in his descriptions of the enormous Laconian bowl with decoration around the rim, or of the Samian krater with griffins and kneeling figures, his sense of wonder may have been directed not only at the size of the respective dedications but also at the vividness of the subjects represented.

    8

  • The ramifications of the Greek victory over Persia and the resulting preemi- nence of Athens extended to art, leaving their mark even in the domain of uten- sils and statuettes. During the Classic period, which spans the fifth and fourth centuries up to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., the major achieve- ments lay in architecture, monumental sculpture in stone, bronze, ivory and gold, as well as in wall painting. Literary texts, in the form of descriptions, accounts, decrees, and so on, give the names of masters, major and minor, together with the works attributed to them, or they pertain to specific monu- ments. Individuals such as the architect Iktinos, the sculptor Pheidias, and the

    painter Polygnotos ofThasos set the standards for and introduced the innova- tions into their respective arts; therefore, considerations of models and influ- ences now enter into the study of a work in a way that they had not previously.

    Bronze sculpture on a scale of halflife-size or greater can be traced back to a group of figures of the mid-seventh century B.c. from Dreros on Crete, or to a winged figure of the first half of the sixth century from Olympia. These works were hammered rather than cast, and they must have been exceptional- glorified experiments, so to speak-even allowing for a very poor rate of survival. At the end of the sixth century B.C., production of monumental cast-bronze stat- uary began to gain momentum. Our knowledge of it derives mainly from ancient literary evidence, which, together with Roman marble copies, is also our chief source for that of subsequent centuries. To suggest the amount of material lost to

    Detail of an Attic red-figured cup depict- ing a foundry, about 490 to 480 B.C. Attributed to the Foundry Painter. Antikenmuseum, Berlin, 2294

    9

  • Detail of a mirror (no. 22)

    us, it has been calculated that in the second century A.D. over one thousand bronze statues of victorious athletes were still standing in Olympia alone. The celebrated charioteer of Delphi, probably set up in 477 B.c., exemplifies how very fine examples of victor dedications looked. The equally familiar statue of Zeus, found in the sea off Cape Artemision and now in Athens, was made closer to the mid-fifth century and conveys the impressiveness of large-scale images of gods that stood in temples and sanctuaries.

    It is against such developments that small-scale bronzes from the fifth century B.C. on must be considered. If we look at the Archaic woman (no. 10) or the Herakles (no. 14) and question whether anything in them requires a large-scale prototype, the answer is likely to be negative, primarily because of the perfect correspondence between the intention of the piece and its realization. By con- trast, the early Classic diskos thrower (no. 21) presents an understanding of the whole human figure, of the interrelation between mind and body, that is more likely to have been achieved on a scale approaching life-size than in that of a stat- uette. Ancient sources tell, for instance, of Pythagoras, a sculptor of bronze who was active during the second quarter of the fifth century and specialized in ath- letes. Works such as his would have inspired others in a variety of sizes, materials, degrees of similarity, and levels of quality. Bronze statuettes from the Classic period are in no respect inferior to their predecessors. Many are simply some- what different, in that the questions of to what degree and in what way a piece is derivative play a more important part in evaluating style and iconography. Expressed in different terms, one may say that in the evolution of Greek sculp- ture small bronzes became reflections rather than milestones of innovation.

    The corollary of this situation, however, is that a great many works offer a distil- late of the finest qualities of Classic art in the compact, intimate form of a stat- uette. Supporting the reflecting surface of the mirror (no. 22) is a woman who stands quietly but has the potential of immediate action, as indicated by the posi- tion of her head, arms, and feet. Perfectly balanced also is the articulation of her body and of the drapery, each distinct yet both integrated to convey the grace of the figure. One could imagine that she represented an aesthetic ideal to which users of the mirror might well aspire.

    The fusion of form, function, and execution into a whole in which no one aspect predominates is an achievement of the Classic period that, indeed, is basic to the meaning of the word "classical." During the last phase of Greek art, known as Hellenistic, new elements entered into the vocabulary of artistic expression that were often at considerable odds with the standard of Classic equilibrium but that significantly widened the existing range of styles and subject matter.

    A consideration of the major historical and artistic developments of this time shows that Greece lost her traditional center, not to say centers. For centuries, the heartland had existed in an area that might be circumscribed by a circle including Dodona in the north and Sparta in the south. The first major change took place during the fourth century B.C. when Philip II and Alexander the Great subjugated the rest of Greece to Macedonian rule. After Alexander's death, during the Hellenistic period proper, although the old cities and sanctuaries remained in existence, the shift continued eastward and southward to the three powerful new kingdoms, those of the Attalids in Pergamon, the Seleucids in Syria, and the Ptolemies in Egypt. The traditional heartland gave way to an ever-widening periphery, much like the circles that spread from a pebble thrown into still water. The ramifications of these developments also altered a world that had previously consisted of many states, with Athens often predominant but not in control. The establishment of Macedonian supremacy brought unprecedented political sub-

    10

  • ordination and centralization, not only throughout Greece as a whole but also within the individual states.

    In art, where the Classic period had attained a balance of every constituent ele- ment of a work-whether building, statue, or water jar-the Hellenistic age introduced the tendency to select and develop a specific feature or detail beyond all others; observation was now pushed toward acute realism, even as far as car- icature. This development gained further impetus from the new subjects that entered the iconographical repertoire as a result of the displacement of artistic centers to the east, notably to Pergamon and other cities of Asia Minor, Alex- andria, Rhodes, and Kos. Africans (see no. 35) and orientals occurred more fre- quently than they had previously. Subjects drawn from daily life, which before were exceptional, became common: men and women with all the marks of age, young children, artisans, actors, dwarfs, cripples. The changes in Greek art at this time were fundamental, yet the old traditions did not die out. The interplay between the classical, on the one hand, and contemporary innovation, on the other, represents an ever-present factor in the consideration of works of the Hellenistic period.

    The range oficonographic and stylistic possibilities is suggested by a com- parison of the dancing youth (no. 31) with the artisan (no. 41). The former gives the sense of a Classic creation infused with energy rather than serene repose. The manifest beauty of the figure and of the articulation of his body depends upon the past. The complexity of his movement, which is the real subject of the work, makes this a product of a new age. Where the youth might have stepped out of a poem by Keats, one could have met the artisan in any industrial quarter in any city of the ancient Greek world. There is no attempt at idealizing the compact, work-hardened body, its muscles and skin now grown less taut. At the same time, every sensitivity remains in the weary, pensive, dignified face.

    As significant as the differences between these two works may be, the figures share a quality of overriding importance, a vigor that imparts life as much to the mundane man as to the arcadian youth. The same quality is perceptible in the Dionysiac masks (nos. 38-40), which are datable to the first century A.D. and which, for our purposes, may demonstrate the continuity of the most time-hon- ored Greek subjects into Roman art.

    These works, however, represent only part of a complex and varied artistic sit- uation. The Hermes (no. 43) shows something quite different, an image of the finest craftsmanship utterly devoid of inner conviction. The standard of execu- tion and the heritage of which it is a product are immediately recognizable, yet equally apparent is an emptiness conveyed by more than just the dispropor- tionately small head, the unfocused glance, and the soft body in a passive pose. The intention of the representation here is no longer clear or definite; only the form remains. The horse (no. 42) offers another example of the same phenomenon.

    Greek mythology provides a noteworthy parallel to these two small sculptures in the figure of Talos, the giant of bronze. He is best described by Apollonius Rhodius, a Greek writer of the third century B.c.

    He was of the stock of bronze, of the men sprung from ash trees, the last left among the sons of the gods; and the son of Kronos gave him to Europa to be the warder of Crete and to stride round the island thrice a day with his feet of bronze. Now in all the rest of his body and limbs he was fashioned of bronze and invul- nerable; but beneath the sinew of his ankle was a blood-red vein; and this, with its issues of life and death, was covered by a thin skin (Argonautica 4. 1639-1648).

    His death was brought about by the sorceress Medea. According to the prin-

    Young African, detail ofno. 35

    11

  • cipal version of the legend, Talos's one vein, that ran from his neck to his ankle, was plugged at the ankle by a bronze nail. Medea drew out the nail, causing his life-blood (ichor) to pour forth and his body to collapse. The episode is depicted on a vase made in Athens about 400 B.C., showing the giant keeling backward into the arms ofKastor and Polydeukes while Medea looks on at the left. The quality of the statuette of Hermes, often characterized as "academic," is that of a figure who has lost his ichor.

    Within this brief conspectus of the development of Greek bronze working, the myth of Talos proves instructive in several respects. Beside contributing to our understanding of certain objects that mark the transition from Hellenistic to Roman art, it is a forceful reminder of the readiness of the ancient Greeks to endow works of art with the qualities of animate beings. The concept recurs in

    Detail of an Attic red-figured volute-krater showing the death of Talos, about 400 B.C. Attributed to the Talos Painter. Ruvo, Jatta Collection, 1501

    many stories-those of Pandora, of Pygmalion, and of the bull made by Daidalos for Pasiphae, to name a very few. In the hands of an inspired craftsman, the proper combination of imitation and imagination could result in a creation of extraordinary potential. The Talos myth reminds us also that these creations were always made to serve a purpose-in the case ofthe giant, to guard the island of Crete. The myth also relates in an interesting way to the production of bronze objects. One's attention is drawn to the mention of a single vein running through Talos's body and plugged at the ankle, a detail that may possibly have been taken from the molds for casting by the lost-wax technique.

    The objects in this Bulletin were produced by casting, hammering, or a com- bination of both. Casting was used for all of the freestanding statuettes, for the handles of the vessels, the disks of the mirrors, and adjuncts like those decorat- ing the periphery of the disk on no. 22. While a number of refinements existed, the basic process was a simple one.

    12

  • The first step was to prepare a core in a malleable matenal, like a mixture of soil and clay, that would serve as a support over which the figure would be mod- eled in wax. Around this wax figure was applied very fine clay, into which the details of the figure became impressed. The layer of fine clay, backed with coarser clay, constituted the actual mold; its relation to the figure was like a tight glove to a hand. It surrounded the figure entirely except at two points on the underside of the feet or base, where the wax was left exposed. This initial operation resulted in a three-layer construction, with the core in the center, the wax representation around it, and the clay mold over the wax. Metal pins called chaplets, driven at intervals through the three layers, kept them aligned. When the outer clay mold had dried, it was fired, which also caused the wax to melt and run out through the two openings. Molten bronze was then poured into the void left by the wax. After the bronze had cooled, the clay was removed to reveal a figure of bronze where originally there had been one of wax. With respect to Talos, it must be said that, in reality, such a large statue would have been assembled out of separately cast pieces. Nonetheless, the idea of one vein within the otherwise solid body may have been suggested by the channel through which the bronze was poured into the mold.

    The figure emerging from the mold would have had a rough surface, and per- haps also imperfections where the liquid metal had not filled the mold com- pletely. Such casting flaws were repaired and the surface smoothed and polished. Details like locks of hair, eyelids, or borders of a garment that did not appear crisp were reworked. Other embellishments-like the triple dots on the garment of no. 15, the scales on the griffin head (no. 9), the silver inlays on the foreheads of nos. 38 and 39, or the inscriptions on nos. 15 and 23-were added at this stage as well. The natural appearance of the bronze would have been copper colored and rather shiny, with inlays or other additions prominent; as ancient texts indicate, the surface could be treated to modify the color or sheen. Ancient bronzes that have survived untouched show a patina consisting of layers of mineral corrosion products formed by the interaction of the metal with the environment in which it was buried. The tonality of this mineral accretion often contributes significantly to our perception of the beauty of an object, although it is foreign to the bronze's original state.

    Objects that were not made by casting were hammered, or raised, from a disk of sheet bronze. This process was standard for the bodies of vessels and for armor. As metal tends to lose its resilience in the course of being worked, it must be repeatedly annealed, or heated to a red-hot temperature, in order to regain its malleability. Annealing results in relatively thin metal that, in the course of time, tends to survive less well than the more solid cast pieces. Thus the cast handles of water jars, jugs, lavers, and other utensils exist in greater number than the ham- mered parts to which they were soldered or riveted.

    Although every technique had its refinements-casting could be done in open molds, with the lost-wax or sand-core process-and although innovations, such as the lathe, were introduced, the fundamental technology of bronze working was already known to Geometric artists and was fully mastered by their Archaic successors. The continuity afforded by these consistent, long-lived methods adds significantly to the picture of cohesiveness and progressive evolution presented by the almost thousand-year history of Greek bronzes. The forms, subjects, pur- poses, and techniques were quite limited, but the ever-new creations of the art- ists seem very nearly infinite, thanks to their gifts of observation and imagination.

    13

  • 14

  • 1. Nude warrior, second half of the eighth century B.C.

    The nude male figure stands on a small rectangular base, with which it has been cast. While his legs are set slightly askew, his wide, flat chest is parallel to the viewer. His massive but subtly articulated neck ends in a small head, which is tilted back. Protuberances indicate the ears and nose; two scarcely visible forms in relief mark the eyes. In his raised right hand he would undoubtedly have held a spear; the object originally in his left hand cannot be determined. Two dowels fasten the warrior to a thinner sheet of bronze, indicating that he originally decorated a vessel. It was almost certainly a tripod cauldron, a deep bowl, in this case made of hammered sheet bronze, sup- ported on three legs and provided with two large ring handles that rose vertically above the mouth. The war- rior would have stood beside one of the handles.

    Although it is difficult to localize the workshop where the figure was made, one possibility is that it was in Elis, the region in which Olympia is located. The statuette is wonderfully direct in conveying the essential features of the man's body and of his action. The small dislocations in the pose contrib- ute to his lack of rigidity. Indeed, his proportions, with long legs and a com- pact head and neck, his stance, and the position of his arms make the warrior a lineal ancestor of the diskos thrower (no. 21).

    Said to come from Olympia or Crete. H. 713/16 in. (19.6 cm). Fletcher Fund, 1936 (36.11.8)

  • 2. Man seated on a ball, last quarter of the eighth century B.C.

    This object consists of a bearded man seated atop a hollow ball. The latter, pierced with eight vertical slashes, sur- mounts a short cylindrical stem ending in a flat, round foot. Attached to the top of the ball is another cylinder that supports a "bench'" which has a hole at either end. A thong presumably passed through the holes. The man sits squarely on the "bench," resting his hands on his knees and his feet on the shoulder of the ball. Incised on the man's back is a circle made with the same tool used for the eyes, an "X" that runs to each shoulder and, below that, a series of horizontals; since the front of the body is entirely plain, the inci- sions may be purely decorative or they may represent equipment, such as a belt, two crossed baldrics, and a shield.

    Given its assemblage of elements and its style, this work could only have come from Thessaly, in northern

    Greece. Only six examples of the spe- cific type are known, yet pendants composed of spheres elaborated in a great variety of ways are characteristi- cally Thessalian; so also is the use of a seated figure as a finial and the wiry build. Our principal evidence for establishing the purpose of the piece consists of the holes for suspension and the fact that many such pendants were ultimately offered as dedications. Here, as in the bird (no. 6), provision is made for both standing and hanging. A definitive solution to the question of function must await more information. What the work itself shows, however, is an extraordinary sense ofthree-dimen- sionality, expressed not only by the treatment of the forms but also by the juxtaposition of mass and void.

    H. 33/4 in. (9.5 cm). Ex colls. Tyszkiewicz, Pozzi, Simkhovitch. Edith Perry Chapman Fund, 1947 (47.11.7)

  • 3-6. Two horses, a ram, and a bird, second half of the eighth century B.C.

    In Geometric art animals far out- number human figures, with birds, horses, sheep, bulls, and other quad- rupeds being particularly common. The ring with a ram illustrates an ani- mal serving as a decorative adjunct. The exact function of the object is unclear, but the possibilities include its having been the ring handle of a small tripod, part of a harness, or a pendant, like no. 2, that could either be hung or, in this case, be let into a base. The ram, decorated with circles, is remarkable for its flatness, which is mitigated only by the curved horns. The three other animals introduce a feature that is more important in Geometric art than at any later time. They have bases with elaborate patternwork whose purpose, beyond that of decoration, is not clear; the theory that these objects could be used as stamp seals to identify ownership is appealing. Aesthetically, the bases significantly influence the three-dimensional effect of the pieces;

    although both horses are comparably lean and sparse in their articulation, the rectangle below one accentuates its length and angularity, while the disk under the other defines a circular space and emphasizes volume. The bird is especially successful, with the fullness of its body enhanced by the round base and the thin subdivisions within the base repeated in the crest and tail. The centers of production represented by these four works cover much of Greece. The bird was proba- bly made in the Argolid and the horse on the rectangular base in Corinth. Despite the presence of Corinthian fea- tures, the horse on the disk has been attributed to Locris in central Greece, while the ram may well come from the north.

    Horse (left): H. 33/8 in. (8.4 cm). Gift of H.L. Bache Foundation, 1969 (69.61.4). Horse (center): H. 37/16 in. (8.8 cm). Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971 (1972.118.49). Ram on ring: H. 33/4 in. (9.5 cm). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Henri Seyrig, 1954 (54.137.2). Bird: Said to be from the Argive Heraion. H. 315/6 in. (9.9 cm). Fletcher Fund, 1935 (35.11.14)

    17

  • _1 &ll f iI _FW - grounds, it can be assigned to a Laco- _!i ,'^ * , j ^ a ' nian workshop. The group is made up

    :l'& ~' -

    'i .

    . .. of a man, wearing a belt and a conical

    _BI_, iB~ i .L i.; ,- . i *icap, standing before a centaur, who is a L_ -r

    ' ' J smaller version of his counterpart- -_'H^^^^ r . : - , , even to the cap-with the addition of * ,I-^^^ ; . ' I the body and hindquarters of a horse.

    -_:H i H * \ * 1 ; ; * The nature of their relation to each other is indicated by the spearhead

    _l _; ,,? | ! projecting from the centaur's left side, - H

    ~_; i, 1 q,, his firm grasp of the man's right fore-

    ' 1 ....c ; E iJ,^t rih a_ _ w !?taur's right arm, which is now missing ^'l .!! S' *";i~

    _j~ .~I *~ L ,1,,^ *above the elbow but which probably .. . L i'~, would have brandished a branch.

    The base contributes significantly to the composition of the piece by join- 'h

    en"I ' '"~ ing the figures on a common ground 1 _ dition: te and emphasizing the centaur through

    I 111 1 ~its irregular shape; it even suggests ;II I I I ~11 _Srough terrain through the cutouts. The

    effect and complexity of the implied space would have been still greater when the work was in its original con- dition: the spear in the man's right

    -4~ :~. i:::;i,i:; :..

    7. Man and centaur, mid-eighth century B.C.

    Figural groups, occasionally with an implied narrative context, are rare among Geometric statuettes and ~. . become even rarer after the Geometric period. Of these groups, which include ... a lion hunt, a ring dance, and men with animals, this one is unrivaled in its clarity and intensity. On stylistic

    18

  • hand and a weapon of some kind above the centaur's head would have added width and height. Within the composition that even now is very tight and closed, there is virtually no incidental detail to divert us from the confrontation of the two antagonists. The spearhead in the centaur's flank informs us of the outcome, yet one is inclined to attribute his opponent's superiority not only to the spear but also to the glance of the man's deeply hollowed eyes. Scholars have pro- posed a variety of specific identifica- tions, such as Zeus and one of the Titans or Herakles and one of the cen- taurs, perhaps Pholos. Beyond specula- tion, however, are the timelessness and universality of the motionless con- frontation between the warrior and his semihuman adversary.

    Said to be from Olympia. H. 45A6 in. (11.1 cm). Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 17.190.2072)

    8. Armorer working on a helmet, end of eighth to early seventh century B.C.

    The statuette of an armorer is quintes- sentially Geometric in its sparseness and in the generally rectangular format within which it is composed; at the same time, it shows an unprecedented limberness. The craftsman is bearded but otherwise nude, unless the caplike form on his head represents not hair but a skullcap often worn by ancient artisans. He sits on the ground with his right foot against the base of a shaft, probably a stake, supporting the helmet. With his left hand he holds the helmet by a cheekpiece; in his right hand he held a tool, perhaps a mallet, of which only the handle remains. The helmet is Corinthian in type, like no. 18, with a nose guard and a tall crest, of which the crest holder is preserved. Because the helmet appears fully formed and the craftsman has no tool

    in his left hand, he is probably ham- mering it into its final shape. A few contemporary statuettes of genre subjects survive; among them are a charioteer and an archer both found at Olympia. While all three figures are rendered with a keen sense of obser- vation, the armorer is significantly dif- ferent: he sits directly on the ground, without a base. A freestanding work, such as this one, must rely on its com- position and execution to ensure bal- ance. Indeed, during the whole history of Greek bronze statuettes, freestand- ing examples without a base of their own or provision for being let into a support are exceptional.

    H. 2 in. (5.1 cm). Fletcher Fund, 1942 (42.11.42)

    19

  • r- -v. c

    . k, L V:l C 5

    Ir

    2?,

    pCra r ea rl%

    i-

    ? .c: I,- '1. ?? Y

    ..

    ?'h r?

    ?.

    ?? Et; .,cP PN I-'?jLLB `1

    \'JI?;?mYR?'Cjll ?il-*??rJYlc'-'I lurr r I -pT 'C-CSl(m .` . -?Tl??.\ i- it;

    --%t: . . ..,.J

    c; ':'?i ?? :Y :h :1 .. rLi, i?c.-. r Cki c p. 4 I? r=,? ?? c? - u?r t. Irc i? Y ? ri ?I ? \. rd.- I. n ??

    II .?i? .

    ". c; r 21

    4 I ? :? r r

    .r r ?'`h;'rC:?l .'^ ??

    `L?, !`, .LFP

    r? 4' ???:: I ?- C Y r '1 ??

    . r

    .. ?:. ?' ??,.,. ? 4

    i 3V

    l`iI rr ,?I '1. I

    .*? C*)

  • 9. Head of a griffin, third quarter of the seventh century B.C.

    During the second half ofthe eighth century, protomes of griffins, or more rarely lions, began to appear attached around the shoulder of a new type of tripod cauldron that was replacing those with figures at the handles (see no. 1). The function of the protomes was decorative and symbolic insofar as these creatures inspired respect in those who saw them. They did not serve any purpose related to the carry- ing of the cauldrons; for that, some examples had small ring handles fastened to the shoulder. Griffin cauldrons achieved great favor in the seventh century, as has been docu- mented by over six hundred surviving protomes as well as by Herodotos's mention of the Samian dedication (p. 7). Significantly, most of the pre- served pieces were discovered in Samos and Olympia. The Museum's griffin head can be connected with the latter site and a Peloponnesian, possi- bly Corinthian, workshop. While the head is cast, a neck hammered from sheet bronze once formed the transi- tion to the cauldron; considering the weight of the head, it is not surprising that the neck no longer exists in this case, nor in virtually all of the others combining cast and hammered elements.

    The griffin, a winged lion with the head of a bird of prey and ears of a horse, was introduced to Greece dur- ing the eighth century along with a great number of other iconographical and technical innovations from the East. The griffin protome, however, was a purely Greek creation, and the Museum's example is one of the very finest. The integration of composition and execution is here complete. The play of curves between tongue and beak is tangibly emphasized by the slight relief line around the mouth. Similarly, the shape of the great arching eye, which was probably once inlaid, reechoes in the three folds of the "eye- lid." One can well understand why Herodotos was impressed by a huge bowl ringed with heads such as these.

    From Olympia. H. 10Y in. (25.8 cm). Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971 (1972.118.54)

    her narrow waist contribute consider- able softness and grace. The skirt, feet, and hands appear less precisely worked than the face and upper body; in fact, technical examination reveals that the two parts are the products of two different castings. The figure may have been damaged during the original casting, making the replacement nec- essary at the outset, or it may have bro- ken later and a replacement was cast on to salvage it. The workshop that produced the piece has been identi- fied as Peloponnesian, possibly Laco- nian. While evidence drawn from different media and regions must be used with care, parallels for the dress of the figure, the pinning of the epiblema on the shoulders, and the character of the articulation occur in Attic vase painting and sculpture of about 570 to 560 B.C.; thus a date in the second quarter of the century seems justified.

    H. 71616 in. (19.5 cm). Ex coll. Simkho- vitch. Bequest ofWalter C. Baker, 1971 (1972.118.57)

    10. Standing woman wearing a peplos, second quarter of the sixth century B.C.

    This bronze brings us into the Archaic period; it carries over from Geometric art a clear sense of structure while introducing a new concern for render- ing the volumes of the body and dif ferentiating them through garments. The figure wears a peplos, a long straight tunic; a belt at the waist; and an epiblema, a kind of bolero that was fas- tened at each shoulder. Her hair is bound with a fillet, or band, and rest- ing on top of her head is a flat disk with traces of an iron pin in the center, which indicates that the woman sup- ported some kind of utensil, perhaps an incense burner. The figure stands stiffly, but her large eyes, full cheeks, the mass of hair-differentiated both above and below the fillet-and the contrast of the volume of her chest to

  • ^ ** ! r , "

    >* i? '' * ..' * * * * " '. Y . *^ : L'5. .

    ^ "

    - - ,. :

    4k ?

  • 11, 12. Nude girl and a mirror with a support in the form of a nude girl, second half of the sixth century B.C.

    In Archaic art the utensil that most often included a female figure as a sup- port was the so-called caryatid mirror. The two examples presented here were made in Laconia ten to twenty years apart; no. 11 can be dated about 540 to 530 B.C. and no. 12 about 520 B.C. In each case the girl is nude except for a necklace with a pendant in the cen- ter and a band, from which hang a crescent-shaped amulet and a ring. The earlier figure (no. 11) has two more amulets hanging on the left side of her back. She also wears a netlike snood that leaves only the edge of her hair exposed, while her counterpart (no. 12) has a flower on either side of her head just above her ears. The ear- lier figure holds cymbals, and the other grasps a pomegranate by the stalk with her left hand; the object originally in her right hand can no longer be identified. The stance of the girls differs significantly, as does what they stand on. The support of the ear- lier one consists of a folding stool with equine legs, on which crouches a large frog that appears to grip the front and sides with its feet. The girl stands on the frog's back, with her left foot advanced slightly before her right. Her upper body turns toward her right, creating the same effect of ease shown to a more limited degree by the war- rior (no. 1). The feline feet attached to her elbows and shoulders are remains of creatures-perhaps griffins-that supported the disk, as they do on the mirror at the right. Here, the figure

  • stands on a lion, which is curled up and rests its head between its paws. The disk, steadied by the well-pre- served griffins, is let into an open- ing on the top of the figure's head. Although the pose of this slightly later girl lacks the torsion of her counter- part and may seem stiffer, the parts of her body are better integrated and pro- portioned; in every respect she seems more composed.

    The function of a mirror evokes Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, whose origins are ultimately Near Eastern. Because they are nude and carry amulets and cymbals, these fig- ures are closer to Aphrodite's oriental aspect, in which she is connected with fertility, than to her Archaic Greek form, in which, often elaborately clothed, she appears in mythological scenes, such as the Judgment of Paris, or in depictions of the life ofwomen. The frog and pomegranate are attri- butes associated with procreation, while the lion accompanies other east- ern goddesses, like Cybele. It is impos- sible to identify the caryatid figures exactly; they may be attendants of Aphrodite or women embodying cer- tain of her qualities.

    Girl: Said to be from Kourion. H. 85/8 in. (21.9 cm). The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874-76 (74.51.5680). Mirror: Said to be from southern Italy. H. 135/8 in. (33.8 cm). Fletcher Fund, 1938 (38.11.3)

    I

  • 13. Nude youth, third quarter of the sixth century B.C.

    The Archaic male figure par excellence is the nude youth standing at rest, one leg before the other, his arms usually at his sides, without attribute or gesture to introduce any specific or episodic feature. The sculptural form, best exemplified in marble, is often called a "kouros," the Greek word for a "youth." This statuette, despite the position of his arms and the object in his right hand, is as direct a repre- sentation of a beautiful youth as any kouros. His body is long and slim, with developed musculature in the chest and shoulders. The even modeling is both complemented and emphasized by the mass of hair, articulated into

    short tight locks on the top of his head and falling in longer, looser tresses almost to the small of his back. While the figure seems to direct his attention toward something in front of him, the situation is impossible to determine; so is the object he holds, which looks most like the stalk of a plant, perhaps a poppy. The rendering of the body sug- gests a date almost contemporary with that of the caryatid supporting the mir- ror (no. 12). The style has been com- pared with both Peloponnesian pieces and others from eastern Greece, spe- cifically Samos. The combination is not problematic in view of the com- munication between Laconia and

    the eastern Aegean during the Archaic period: ancient literary sources tell of Bathykles of Magnesia who made an elaborately decorated throne at Amyklai near Sparta; of Theodoros of Samos who constructed a building near Sparta; and of the great bronze bowl intended as a gift from Sparta to Croesus, king of Lydia (p. 7). Such interchange can account for the pres- ence of a softness usually associated with East Greek sculptural styles in a figure that retains the structure and firmness of Peloponnesian works.

    H. 6 in. (15.2 cm). Bequest ofWalter C. Baker, 1971 (1972.118.101)

    25

    I _ _

  • 26

  • 14. Herakles, last quarter of the sixth century B.C.

    In this forceful representation Herakles is the virtual personification of controlled strength. The compact body shows a thorough integration of bony structure and musculature. The outstretched arm with its clenched fist, the formidable right arm with the club that is almost half as tall as the figure, the right foot modeled to suggest great power behind the forward stride - such details establish his physical prowess. At the same time, his fine beard and particularly the impeccable precision of his hair, bound with a fillet, mark the man as civilized.

    Herakles can be placed among the foremost Greek heroes for the labors and adventures that linked him with all parts of Greece, and for the fact that, ultimately, he was accepted among the immortals on Mount Olympos. He was depicted with great frequency and in all media during the Archaic period. The present statuette is particularly remarkable for the economy with which it expresses both strength and civility. Its reputed find spot supple- ments stylistic criteria for associating it with bronze figures from the central Peloponnesos, which are commonly called "Arcadian" when they are peas- ant types, often bearing animals, or "Argive" when their physical build is muscular and compact but the level of execution superior. Although the base upon which Herakles stands is pierced in two corers, he is not likely to have decorated a vessel; the shape of the base and the pronounced three- dimensionality of the figure indicate that it was probably a dedication.

    Said to be from Mantinea in Arkadia. H. 5Y16 in. (12.8 cm). Fletcher Fund, 1928 (28.77)

  • 15. Man playing the lyre, late sixth to early fifth century B.C.

    The statuette represents a bearded man wearing a long chiton, belted at the waist and ornamented with triple dots and a guilloche pattern on its lower border. His hair is bound with a fillet, which may well retain the orig- inal gilding. The long belted garment is a special form of dress usually seen on flute and lyre players and on chario- teers. The instrument, held in the musician's left arm, shows careful artic- ulation of the strings, arms, and tor- toiseshell sound box. The musician holds the plektron in his right hand.

    Like the armorer (no. 8) and the "Arcadian" peasants mentioned on page 27, the musician belongs to the tradition of subjects of daily life, which are represented less frequently in bronzes than in vase painting. The iconographical interest ofthe piece is heightened by the inscription engraved in Attic letters over the back of the legs and buttocks: "Dolichos dedicated me." The formula is typical for such offerings of the Archaic period, as is the placement of the text over part of the figure's body. We do not know why this statuette was made or dedicated. It should be noted, how- ever, that lyre players were not only musicians in the restricted sense but also poets and preservers of orally transmitted historical knowledge. Dolichos may have made this offering after a victory in a contest of musical or mnemonic skills, or simply out of grat- itude to a benevolent muse.

    H. 3/8 in. (7.9 cm). Rogers Fund, 1908 (08.28.5)

    28

  • 16. Horse, second quarter of the sixth century B.C.

    Because of the greater expressive pos- sibilities that the human form offered to Archaic artists, there are fewer ani- mal bronzes than in the Geometric period; horses and lions, however, continued to be popular. This statuette evokes its antecedents through the long narrow base, to which even the tail is attached. The cylindrical body and large, generally triangular hind- quarters perpetuate the earlier empha- sis on strong, clear forms as well. What is new, however, is the subtly modeled neck and chest, the elegant legs, and the luxuriant mane, which is given as much attention as the hair of the youth (no. 13). It is evident that the horse

    was made by an artist who had looked at living models, even if he has left a certain awkwardness in the propor- tions and composed the legs not as they move in nature but to stress the strength of the hindquarters. The piece was reputedly found in southern Italy, in Locri Epizephyrii ("Toward the Western Winds"), founded by main- land Greeks from the region of Locris. It is one of the earliest bronzes asso- ciated with a center that later was well known for the production of caryatid mirrors. Chronological evidence for the piece exists in Corinthian and Attic vases of the very end of the seventh century and of the first half of the sixth that show horses with the same hori- zontally striated manes. Comparison with other bronzes from southern Italy, notably a group of a horse and rider in the British Museum, suggests a date about 570 to 560 B.C.

    Said to be from Locri. H. 65/8 in. (16.8 cm). Ex coll. Junius S. Morgan. Lent in 1907 by Junius Spencer Morgan (1867-1932) and given by his heirs in 1958-1959 (58.180.1)

    29

  • 17. Two rams, third quarter of the sixth century B.C.

    The tradition of utilitarian objects embellished with sculptural adjuncts, last encountered on these pages in the griffin cauldrons (see no. 9), continued to flourish during the sixth century B.C. These rams were attached with bronze dowels, still preserved, to a utensil that

    is difficult to identify. The underside of the animals is both hollowed and curved, indicating that they fitted onto a rolled or tubular surface that was about 2 cm in diameter. Because of their considerable weight, roughly three pounds apiece, and because the

    object may well have had more than the two attachments, a sturdy support would have been required. It may have been the rim of some kind of basin or stand rather than the shoulder of a cauldron. The animals introduce a new stylistic mixture. They show

    1976.11.2

    1976.11.3

  • rather broad smooth planes, with vir- tually no detail or indication of under- lying structure. The salient features, like the limbs, horns, eyes, and muzzles are boldly modeled and artic- ulated with highly stylized markings. The rams do not give the impression that they could stand up and move, or even that this is a potential that the art- ist particularly wished to convey. The approach differs perceptibly from that in the horse (no. 16) and in the human figures just considered, and it points to influence from the Near East. Recum- bent animals with heads at right angles to their bodies and legs folded sym- metrically under them occur in small objects of gold, electrum, ivory, and limestone found at Ephesos, Sardis, and other sites where Greeks of the sixth century came in contact with Lydian, Achaemenian, and perhaps even Scythian craftsmen or their works. Pieces as finely executed as these rams make clear how signifi- cantly Eastern admixtures modified Greek artistic expression.

    Front: L. 59/16 in. (14 cm). Back: L. 5/8 in. (14.2 cm). Purchase, Rogers Fund and Norbert Schimmel Gift, 1976 (1976.11.2,3)

    18. Helmet, first third of the sixth cen- tury B.C.

    Body armor occupied a special place among the various categories of metal- work, for the craftsman devoted all of his technical and aesthetic talents to the protection and appearance of a person. The helmet illustrated here is of the "Corinthian" type, which is characterized by a bell-like form, long nosepiece, and cheekpieces that leave little but the eyes exposed. While the shape is, of course, determined by that of the human head, the graceful curve outward at the nape of the neck and around the lower part of the face sug- gests that the armorer exploited the malleability of the bronze for more

    than practical purposes. Every edge is finished with incised lines and the upper curve of the eye is slightly thick- ened, a device seen previously on the griffin protome (no. 9). Rising in low relief from the bridge of the nose are two snakes whose bodies double as eyebrows until they curve back into meticulously articulated heads with large eyes, razor-sharp teeth, and flick- ing tongues. Incised on the forehead of the helmet is a lotos flower with a small palmette to either side; similar palmettes occur above the ogee cut into each side of the helmet. Over and above the technical skills needed to

    satisfy the protective requirements, a helmet like this one challenged a craftsman's artistic sensitivity, produc- ing such fine effects as the juxtaposi- tion of the lotos with the nosepiece or the snakes with the line of the eyelid. The date of the work is furnished not only by comparison with other Cor- inthian helmets but also by details like the palmettes and lotos; the latter sug- gests a date about 600 to 570 B.C.

    Said to be from Olympia. H. 87/8 in. (22.6 cm). Dodge Fund, 1955 (55.11.10)

    31

  • ~ ~i~ Z ~,~. .r.

    ~~~~-~!~ ... ?1~" k~~ J~~~~ ~/ t v~~o ~....

    ~.cm~~r~Ll~//r~ ,

    i~, ~ ~. f~!~ !

    ~/ !~ll. ~ .~!!,i!!!'~~l~-~' -?

    , -

  • 19. Neck-amphora with bail handle, last quarter of the sixth century B.C.

    Although this neck-amphora was made almost a century later than the helmet (no. 18), they are related through their method of manufacture. The bodies of both were hammered, challenging the artist in each case to draw the most functional and beautiful object possible out of a basic deep, round-bottomed form. Each was then appropriately embellished, the helmet as we have seen, and the amphora with a foot, lip, and side and bail handles that had been cast separately. Bronze vessels survive in far smaller numbers than their ceramic counterparts because fewer were made and because the metal deteriorated or was melted down for reuse; the present shape is found in less than halfa dozen complete examples. Composed of numerous parts, this object gives an impression of organic growth, with the form and placement of every element determined by specific functional and

    aesthetic requirements. The tongue pattern around the foot recurs at the lip, much as a fine wall has a dado at the bottom and a cornice at the top. The two vertical handles, for pouring, and the swinging bail, for carrying and lifting, are integrated with the vessel in such a way that they echo both the width of the shoulder and the height ofthe neck. The vertical handles, more- over, are decorated along the center and each edge with beading, and their lower attachment to the shoulder assumes the form of a gorgon's head, complete with two coiling snakes worked fully in the round. A ring at the top of each handle secures the bail, which is provided with three beaded moldings, terminals in the form of styl- ized lotos buds, and another, crowning ring for the rope to lower and raise the vase. The amphora is covered with a lid that is attached to the bail handle with a chain.

    Said to be from northern Greece. H. 211116 in. (55.1 cm). Rogers Fund, 1960 (60.11.2 a,b)

    33

    '?f.X?^^ .., w w v '!"

    ??v -sl}ls w ??-r*Xtl

  • 20. Hunter, first quarter of the fifth century B.C.

    At a glance, this bronze may give the impression of a familiar subject trans- formed. It in fact offers an excellent foil to the Herakles (no. 14), displaying how representation of the human body had developed in the course of a generation, from the end of the sixth century into the fifth. Like Herakles, the figure strides out upon a narrow plinth, his left foot advanced, his left arm outstretched, and clasping an object (perhaps a bow)-of which only traces remain-in his left fist; his right arm is bent up, the hand clenched, but evidently not pierced to hold a weapon. He wears a pointed cap, probably the felt pilos worn by hunters. The major difference be- tween this piece and the Herakles lies in the stance. Here, the heel of the right foot projects beyond the base,

    the right leg does not duplicate the left but turns outward, the torso inclines forward as well as outward, while the head more nearly follows the direction of the left foot. There is greater open- ness in the disposition of the limbs, and a concomitant play of weight and torsion. A second significant dif- ference appears in the articulation of the body. While the muscles of his arms, buttocks, and calves are promi- nent, the more elongated, softly mod- eled torso and back complement the posture in conveying the effect of con- trolled and coordinated action. The hunter has acquired grace without los- ing strength. He has been attributed to a workshop in the Peloponnesos and may well be a product of the same tradition as the Herakles.

    Said to be from Messenia. H. 52 in. (14 cm). Ex colls. Pozzi, Phelps Stokes. Bequest ofWalter C. Baker, 1971 (1972.118.71)

    34

  • ; """ . .; --_i?ji_ -a

    -o,

    III Sm I 'VYP;

    : :: : : : :::: - :

    -i:ii :i_:::::--

    " ::: :I:-i :-:: : :: i:_I,: i::

    : .:-i- ;ii i-i:I ::i: -:-::x i::::: :---. ss--?: -

    : : -.-. :

    -:-:`-- : :i:: ::I;:

    ::I :-:-:: :-::: ::- :--: :-::-:i - -.:-... :--:':::::::-Ls`:-':i:-:-i::,,_:si: : ::- : .. : .-. :: :::: :::: :-:::: -. - - ::: . : i-: ;?:i:::::-i:--'. :'"i?': :&-:--i::;i?i::::.-:-?;;"X

    ::: _ -; :: : :-- ?. -: :--:: -i :i-l--_:_;":-'?-iaii:is?^:L: : : : : ::- ::: -:::::: :::::: r:"i,:-:-:r;ir:;-;ii::l::.iz-lai

    : i - - .--:;. : -..-.. --:::i-_:-::-:.;:i:Lrsi::?:.,,: 1:9;8

    - :-! li-i! :li-- : I::: : :'- .: -1:1--1 ..:-- .: :._. :i-: :: ..-.- : : :-; . ::?uBli:A---::r_i:$?'"o --: : .::i:::::: : :: : ::::.--:i- ::: .: :i2.l::-_ :I; I: i -`:::::: ( :;I_-I:.: j:*_-.-i; ::::j:- .-K---i_j-_ i;:--':--: :j:::::,: -: i: x-::i--'-xzi :

    ::: ::'-:: -I-j I- il-: I li'll: li:;_?:i:l-:-iBia,::i-:g -ilj.o- :j::: I:::: - :j::ij-:-:-i :: :;:-::: i:-i:: __:i-::b-:::: -ii:::::;:-

    :-::-i :i-:::--::- -': :::lil rili:li?i-_::i, iS:: 1::- :j:: -- :ii:::;- --:--:-:- - :::. -: :V: i::iii;ii-i:?::i:--:,;?-, C I-.;i :-i: -;iiS:!::::_!-_-: : ::ii: -i,i::il? -:-'- ::::::; i;i: I : ; . -cl-li- : _i ---- -;.,. :-- , : I::^:i :-i ';. '::;'-;:-:: '-.:i-3-;?,;??iC:ls9?:.i;,.,, :: i-i_ii:::::: :-::::li::lli:1_ :i,:: ::i:_:i_:iiii-i:::-: ::r i::ii-:-i:_:i ::_:::::_L:__::l_i

    ::-:l::i::: ; .- ;xb:?apB f_i: :::::..,:;,::,:i._ 1:.i:J::r:- --i:'i,'::n?., :: - -: : : : : ::::: : : ::::: ' i--:;:::-: : :::: ::'::: -:;- '-: :-:lj_::::-_i;i:: : i---:::-*-;-: --;?::i -i--__:::a_-Y-:8:ii;isi:::IXi:i:a

    : --- : : . :i- : :: .. -::i_:, ".:::?: ::'::': :: -.:: :::::-::::-:::-::::-::l:i:-:i:.-::::i ::ii::--::ii i ::::- : :: ?:'-::::: --::-:i -:i-i-ri:::j:: j::::: - ::'T:'-i-':-:- i '-: :': :-:: : :-: -'- ': ::::: -:--i-i?ri:zil,? ,iie: ii::-L- *llw--

    -

    : : : : :;:-: k: :: -- ::::

    -'lsl- -iIII :: : i-i I I :: :::::ii:i : :::- - ::--

    i?;??i;-;:-?.?:is-;:""":i" i i.

    : . :I :: ii jl

    : : r

    -:' ?-::: :: ; rB'Sii.:?5- ; s- .^:_ i::- I- :::- .:.... - ? - -r:-' ?g::1::?i::qBg?:4:?ar?i; al"i rs-na

    : - ::i-,:---:i?`:::?--:I-i;: : 8"?ic-:;?:.i??b-."".;"X" .I: "i i-i-: - ;:::::

    ::: ;. i:::i :I: -: -: -. ,:::i: :-i::: i;

    ::. I:- ::I"-?:I J:I-Vp ::: : ;; i :::-"k:? ?1:-_ '-::r.?_?;::i - P""'i-:lj"""'"

    .i::::::i- .-;-i:;:e--: -;.:II__ -,-.;.:-:,::-;:,:::?:-li--: ---:-,--i i :::ii 'si.;:l' ` ;:I-----'' ---:a;i Fi4/

    r,

    r';:,-::-li,ii8:Y -`ji;::i::.ls:,B'B 5:e'a-' ::-':':;? '-:-'''' '::-i-: j -.: : -, -:-::u:-- : -:::-;--.,:_:?--;-; --:;.:;,- ;::;-:::::?:: :;:i: _-: _:l-::--:::i::-:- i--ii-:::::-::;-:r:-:-::;":il:?:c,c

    i. : B;FB ;,,, Bsl-i :Ig?$::9 ?

    ?i ? iBd;'Br

    :ia -192r- i?sa .,.,;,.?I???????????????????? 8-:-r-nc? Ir-jlai : ? 8?:2:?r":41'??i9:,?IL :i--tBbBaa?:c;?;:_!ipm

  • '4 M PC -

  • 21. Diskos thrower; about 480 to 460 B.C.

    Athletes were a favorite subject in the early fifth century because they offered artists a perfect form through which to study the human body in every attitude, from strenuous exertion to repose. Progressive mastery of the workings of the body brought with it greater sensitivity to the rendering of the face, as this beautiful statuette dem- onstrates: the young man not only has the physique to hurl the diskos but he does so consciously. He is about to begin the throw, to swing the diskos forward in his extended left hand, then back over his head, transfer it to the right hand, and release it with the force of the gathered momentum. Thus he stands with the diskos in his left hand-his missing right arm was per- haps outstretched slightly-his right, weight-bearing leg advanced, and his left leg free but possibly with the heel raised just off the ground. The position of his limbs is carried into the torso, his left shoulder and hip being higher than the right. The back view and pro- file show his powerfully developed chest, shoulders, and buttocks, and a pronounced hollow in the small of his back. In the rendering of his head, the ears are placed unnaturally high; the hair is unarticulated, suggesting that he wears a close-fitting cap, which is often represented in contemporary vase paintings of athletes. Perhaps the most significant feature of the bronze, not to say innovation, lies in the eyes that are given focus and depth by the small holes of the pupils and emphasis by the prominent cheekbones; the eyes and particularly the mouth suggest the potential of responsiveness. Among the works considered thus far, this is the first in which the mind seems to play a part in the action of the body.

    Said to come from the Peloponnesos. H. 9% in. (24.5 cm). Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.286.87)

  • 22. Mirror with a support in the form of a draped woman, mid- fifth century B.C.

    One of the achievements manifest in works of the Classic period is the inte- gration of every component part into a whole. The diskos thrower (no. 21) reveals a recognition of individual character and its incorporation into the human form. In this mirror a diver- sity of elements have been composed into a magnificent utensil and unified by the primacy and perfectly balanced composition of the figure. Upon a base supported by three lion's paws stands a woman wearing a long straight garment pinned at the shoulders and draped to fall freely over the upper body. On her extended right hand perches a dove. Her hair is carefully rolled up at the sides and back and is held in place on the crown by a fillet of small beads. Inserted into the very top of her head, and furnishing the transi- tion to the mirror disk, is a support with a palmette ornament. Depending from it are two Erotes (whose wings are modem restorations). Around its circumference the disk has a band of guilloche and a band of beading. Upon the edge are two hounds, each pursu- ing a hare, two rosettes, and, at the very top, a siren who repeats certain deco- rative elements with her lion claws, supporting volutes, wings, and coiffure corresponding to that of the caryatid. On the siren's back is a pair of vertically pierced loops, presumably for attach- ment of a chain connected to a per- fume vessel. This mirror and a close counterpart in the Louvre are the nucleus of a group attributed to the region of Argos.

    H. 16V8 in. (40.4 cm). Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971 (1972.118.78)

  • I

    23. Hydria, mid-fifth century B.C. Like the preceding mirror, this hydria, or water jar, was surely made in Argos and is its equal in the mastery of com- position and technique. The body is left plain from its base to its widest point, at which the cast horizontal handles are attached and a zone of tongues begins that extends over the shoulder to the base of the neck; the verticality of the tongues is repeated by the ribbing on the cast foot. The gen- tle, almost cushionlike curve of the shoulder develops equally gracefully into the mouth of the vase and the crowning bust of a woman. She belongs to the hydria's vertical handle, which is fastened to the mouth by three rivets and to the body by an attachment ornamented with a pal- mette. The figure, much like her coun- terpart on the mirror, wears a peplos and has her finely detailed hair rolled up over her neck. The rotelles to either side of her give a semblance of out- stretched hands; they have smaller counterparts in the rosettes flanking the siren on the mirror disk.

  • Viewing the hydria as a whole, one becomes aware of how the compo- nent elements, all necessary and func- tional, have been combined. The play of the folds of the peplos against the fluting on the shoulder, the rosettes and palmettes used as compositional punctuation marks, and the surfaces left plain to heighten the effect of those decorated-such features establish cohesiveness not only from top to bot- tom but also all around the vase. One

    of the purposes served by the hydria is given by an inscription on the top of the mouth: it was a prize awarded at games for Hera at Argos (see p. 5). Whether it was specially ordered for the purpose remains unknown. In any case, the style and inscription indicate that the piece was made and used in the same region.

    Said to come from the Peloponnesos. H. 204 in. (51.4 cm). Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1926 (26.50)

    24. Athena flying her owl, about 460 B.C.

    This peplos-clad goddess is Athena, patron of Athens. Compared to the severity of the figures on the two pre- ceding works, her appearance is more relaxed and appealing, qualities unex- pected in the representation of a deity. She is shown in a moment of ease, fly- ing her owl, much as the Greek heroes Achilles and Ajax are depicted on vases playing a board game at Troy. Athena wears her garment fastened over both shoulders and belted rather high. The position of her left hand indicates that she held a spear, and she has pushed up her Corinthian helmet, leaving her face and much of her hair exposed. The sense of relative infor- mality is further accentuated by the absence of her aegis and shield. In her right hand she holds the owl, her animal attribute, which seems about to fly off

    The statuette is unusual in several respects. Her present surface may be partly a modem application after unduly harsh cleaning in the nine- teenth century. The angle of the spear- holding hand is probably not the orig- inal one, for in this position, the top of the shaft would pass behind her left arm. The peplos, which is closed at one side rather than open and which has a small overfold as well as rather long "shirttails," is an uncommon vari- ant. Nonetheless, in mid-fifth century representations of the two peplos- wearing maiden goddesses-Athena and Artemis-there is a considerable range in details of dress, so the present scheme is not unique; nor is the choice of a Corinthian rather than the more usual Attic helmet. Through the connection with Lord Elgin, the stat- uette has been associated with Athens, but its idiosyncracies may be easier to understand in a different artistic con- text, specifically that of southern Italy or Sicily. A bronze statuette in Naples (National Archaeological Museum) of Athena with her owl presents the god- dess in a similarly "unofficial" guise. This comparison, together with sty- listic affinities to contemporary west- ern Greek art, offers a body of works to which the Elgin Athena can be related quite readily.

    H. 57/8 in. (15 cm). Ex coll. Earl of Elgin. Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1950 (50.11.1)

  • 25. Handle, fourth century B.C. The integration of a figure into a uten- sil could involve more complex sub- jects than those on the mirror (no. 22) and the hydria (no. 23). This handle, which probably came from a large bowl that had two handles and a foot, displays attachments in the form of Nereids seated upon hippocamps and holding pieces of armor destined for Achilles. (Thetis, the mother of Achilles, was the most famous of the Nereids, or sea nymphs.) The hippo- camps face outward; their tall necks and fish bodies applied to the handle provide a frame within which the fig- ures are rather languidly disposed. The Nereid on the left steadies a round shield against her mount's tail with her left hand, while the one on the right balances a corselet upon her right knee.

    Achilles' first set of armor was the wedding present of the gods to his father, Peleus; it was later given by Achilles to his friend Patroklos to be used for the combat in which Patroklos was killed by Hektor. The

    second set, depicted here, was a replacement obtained by Thetis from Hephaistos in preparation for the final confrontation between Achilles and Hektor. The motif of armor-bearing Nereids mounted on sea creatures became popular in the mid-fifth cen- tury and continued into the fourth, especially on the covers of bronze box mirrors and in terracotta appliques as well as on painted vases. Handle

    attachments showing a mythological episode rather than a single figure occurred also in the fourth century on bronze hydriai, although no hydria with Nereids has yet come to light, probably because their horizontal shape was not appropriate below the vertical handle.

    L. 73/8 in. (18.7 cm). Classical Purchase Fund, 1978 (1978.11.18)

    41

  • 26

    -w

    26. Centaur hurling a stone, second half of the fifth century B.C.

    The centaur rears up to cast a stone toward something before and below him. He would originally have stood on his hind legs, with his tail, now lost, providing additional stability. His carefully modeled head shows a bald crown, a furrowed brow, clearly defined eyes, and a broad beard; con- siderable attention has also been paid to his hands and fingers. All of the cen- taur's energies are behind his action. What might that be? Literary and archaeological evidence informs us that one of the subjects favored in the fifth century for major sculptural and painted programs was the cen- tauromachy, the battle between the centaurs and Lapiths, a people of Thessaly, that broke out when the cen- taurs became drunk at the wedding of the Lapith Perithous.

    As wild creatures of nature, centaurs armed themselves with weapons of nature, usually boulders and trees. They overcame one of their adversar- ies, Kaineus, who was invulnerable to man-made arms, by thus pounding him into the ground. This particular incident in the centauromachy requires an outdoor setting, unlike the outbreak of the conflict, which occurred indoors during the wedding feast. By the inclusion of the boulder, the statuette can be associated with the "outdoor centauromachy." Moreover, because the figure's gesture and glance have such a definite focus and because the Kaineus story was so current, it is

    possible to interpret the bronze as a vignette from the story, which would have been immediately recognized.

    The sources of inspiration available to a bronze worker in the latter part of the fifth century were numerous. Centauromachies, and specifically the Kaineus episode, were depicted in Greek art from the seventh century on. It appeared in the famous wall paint- ing, now lost, in the Theseion in

    Athens, probably datable to about 470 B.C. The motif of an attacking centaur recurs on the south metopes of the Parthenon. Such great public works influenced artists in other media, nota- bly vase painting. Whatever the specific source may have been, the statuette reflects one of the major artistic con- cerns of the Classic period.

    H. 13/4 in. (4.4 cm). Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971 (1972.118.80)

    27

    42

  • 27. Satyr, fourth century B.C. The satyr stands with the middle of his body frontal, his chest and head directed toward his right, his left leg bent at the knee and drawn back slightly. The subtle torsion is rein- forced by the position of the arms; the left one appears behind him with the hand bent up, in much the same way as the leg below kicks up. The satyr's partially preserved right arm is raised. His head is precisely articulated with carefully combed hair, beard, and moustache, large eyes, pug nose, pur- sed mouth, and ears that stand out like antennae. His pose may be simply that of dancing or capering. If however, his right arm is interpreted as held so that his hand shielded his eyes, he represents the popular motif of an uncivilized creature gesturing toward a maenad or, alternatively, toward the apparition of Dionysos or another deity.

    Small works like this one allowed for freer expression and greater experi- mentation than those on a larger scale; they can, therefore, be more difficult to date. The satyr may be placed in the second half of the fourth century. What the figure retains of the fifth cen- tury and its traditions are the balance of weight in the body and the render- ing of the head. On the other hand, the anatomical detail in the rib cage, the tail that was evidently quite small and set in the hollow of the back, the upraised head, and the agility of both expression and pose are features of Hellenistic art. During the fifth century, the satyr acquired unprecedented free- dom of action as well as serious sculp- tural treatment, innovations that this figure reflects.

    H. 27/16 in. (6.2 cm). Rogers Fund, 1943 (43.11.1)

    28. Box mirror with the head of a woman, second quarter of the fourth century B.C. or later

    The interdependence among different artistic media and iconographical types grows increasingly pronounced from the fifth century on, until, during the Hellenistic period, the distinction between motifs found on bronzes, jewelry, coinage, pottery, and terracot- tas becomes fluid indeed. This mirror is decorated with a frontal face, an image that had a long and important history in Greek art. The relief is worked in such a way that it rises grad- ually from her neck to the top of her head; when the mirror is held, the face gives the impression of always looking right at the viewer. The indication of the pupils, the heavy eyelids, and the sharp line of the eyebrows intensify the effect. The smooth full face is set within a mass of wiry radiating curls. Amidst the curls the lower part of each ear and the rosette earrings are shown frontally as well.

    The frontal face occurred most com- monly in the gorgoneion, the head of Medusa, that evolved from a fearsome,

    fanged monster into a seductive beauty. The treatment of the woman's hair in this relief brings to mind her mythological counterpart. Although used in Archaic art for special empha- sis, frontal faces began to be exploited for their decorative value only toward the end of the fifth century. The development is particularly evident on coins, such as issues of Syracuse and other cities of Sicily, Amphipolis in northern Greece, or the Island of Rhodes. By the late fourth century the frontal face was common in all metal- working arts and in pottery, where it imitated metal. The popularity of frontal heads may have to do with their adaptability to a circular format. Cir- cular compositions are remarkably fre- quent in Greek art if one considers the decoration of certain ceramic shapes, like cups and plates, as well as coins and mirrors. The skill that was devel- oped at composing subjects for round surfaces also facilitated the application from one medium to another.

    Found with no. 30, reputedly at Vonitsa in Akamania. Diam. 6Y8 in. (15.5 cm). Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.256 a,b)

    43

  • 29. Box mirror with the head of Pan, end of the fourth century B.C.

    The box mirror came into use toward the end of the fifth century and even- tually supplanted the caryatid type (see nos. 12, 22). The mirror consists of a protective cover bearing a relief that was hammered separately and applied. The hea