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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.37
Title
Horse
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
Date
7th-6th Century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/178322

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
6.6 cm (2 5/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The surface is a mottled green with black copper sulfide crystals resulting from its post-excavation storage environment. Some light tan burial soil is preserved in the recesses. The holes in the hind legs are probably porosity that formed during casting. There is a crack on top of the tail.

The horse was modeled in one piece directly in the wax. The various features such as the head, mane, ears, legs, and tail were pinched or massaged into shape. The rounded opening between the legs may have been defined using a long round-sectioned tool, perhaps a stick or rod.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Walton Brooks McDaniel, New Jersey (?-1943/46) gift; to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, (1943/46-2012) transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Note: Walton Brooks McDaniel gave a portion of his collection to the Department of the Classics in 1943 and the rest in 1946. The Collection is named for his late wife, Alice Corinne McDaniel.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.1.37
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This small horse has an elongated body and is rendered very schematically (1). The nose is long; it has a short, sharp mane, rounded ears, and a short tail. The back legs are shorter than the front, and the right back leg is the shortest. This horse would likely have been a votive object.

NOTES:

1. Compare M. Kunze, Meisterwerke antiker Bronzen und Metallarbeiten aus der Sammlung Borowski 1: Griechische und römische Bronzen (Ruhpolding and Mainz, 2007) 33, no. G 23 (inv. no. GR 022); and J. M. Turfa, Catalogue of the Etruscan Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Philadelphia, 2005) 241-42, no. 264.

Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • John Crawford, Sidney Goldstein, George M. A. Hanfmann, John Kroll, Judith Lerner, Miranda Marvin, Charlotte Moore, and Duane Roller, Objects of Ancient Daily Life. A Catalogue of the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection Belonging to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, ed. Jane Waldbaum, Department of the Classics (unpublished manuscript, 1970), M174, p. 206 [J. S. Crawford]

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu