Catalogue of the bronzes, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan, in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum / by H.B. Walters.

  • British Museum. Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Catalogue of the bronzes, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan, in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum / by H.B. Walters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    133/536 page 59
    428. THREE SIMILAR HORSES, which have been amalgamated into a confused mass by- decay of adjacent surface; an oblong piece of bronze, perhaps the base of one of the horses, . forms part of the mass. 429. SHEATH, with dagger inside, in low relief; on the back are three pins or stilettos, with large heads, in high relief; a ring at one side. Length 2-g- in. Tharros, Sardinia, 1856; grave 5. Cf. Perrot and Chipiez, Hist, de VArt, iv. p. 85, and Bull. Arch. Sard. 1855, p. 161. The use of this object is indicated in Perrot and Chipiez, op. cit. figs. 52 and 62 ; it is a copy of a sheath which held one or more weapons. 430. SIMILAR OBJECT, razor-shaped ; on one side is a relief of a sheathed dagger ; on the other, a pin or stiletto with large head. Round the edge, a raised plait-border ; on one side, two rings (one broken). Length 3J in. Probably from Sardinia. 431. RIGHT HAND, with fingers close together, flat on the inner side ; the nail is indicated on the thumb. Length 2>i in. 432. TWO LEFT HANDS, as the last. Length 2^ and 3 in. One is corroded. 433. OBJECT of unknown use, perhaps part of the trappings of a horse, of which the lower part is formed by a calyx of four sepals, from which springs an upright piece branching out into four bars ending in Gryphons5 heads open-mouthed ; from two of the bars spring two uprights supporting another bar, which ends in two similar Gryphons5 heads. Ht. 7 in. 1889. 434. Female Bust, perhaps intended for Aphrodite, composed of thin plates of bronze rudely hammered in relief (a^vpifKarov) and then nailed together. The 1. hand is placed on the breast, and in r. she has held out a bird or flower (cf. the tufa figure from the same tomb, Micali, Mon. Ined. pi. 6, fig. 1). The hair is waved in front and falls in straight parallel curls to the waist, with two separate curls, formed of rolled-up sheets of bronze, over the shoulders in front ; she wears a broad necklace composed of rows of pendants, with borders of astragalus and wavy lines. The waist is very small and is ornamented with a band of maeander ; below it is a pedestal, the upper part conical, the lower cylindrical, on which are friezes in relief of an Ionian character, indicating that this part had been imported, while the bust itself was of local Etruscan workmanship. The upper frieze consists of a procession of animals to 1.: a browsing ibex ; a roaring lion ; a Sphinx with recurved wings ; and a similar Sphinx. On the lower frieze are four two-horse chariots driven to 1. ; in each is a charioteer in long chiton, holding the reins in either hand and turning to look at a companion in long chiton and himation. Between the first two and last two chariots is a Sphinx to 1. with long hair in formal tresses and recurved wings. It is possible that the figure may have originally been a full-length one, and that this lower frieze formed the lower border of the dress.* Ht. 15' in. From the Polledrara tomb, Vulci, 1S50. Micali, Mon. Tncd. pi. 6, fig. 2 ; Dennis, Etruria,2 i. p. 460; Murray, Handbook of Gk. Archaeology, p. 241 ; id. Hist, of Gk. Sculpt? i. p. 85 ; Journ. Hell. Stud. xiv. pi. 8, p.' 222 ; Martha, Li Art Atrusquc, p. 498 ] * Micali [op. cit.) gives a low square plinth below the circular one, ornamented with a frieze of animals, and with double lotos-flowers on the upper edges; but there is no record of its existence subsequent to the publication of his work in 1S44.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3