Harvard Art Museums > 1925.30.114: Horse and Rider Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Horse and Rider , 1925.30.114,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Mar 23, 2025, https://hvrd.art/o/291036. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1925.30.114 Title Horse and Rider Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture Date 575-550 BCE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Boeotia Period Archaic period Culture Greek Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/291036 Physical Descriptions Medium Terracotta Dimensions 8.5 cm (3 3/8 in.) Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Joseph C. Hoppin Accession Year 1925 Object Number 1925.30.114 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Commentary This terracotta figurine of a horse and rider is one of many similar figurines deposited at cemeteries in Boeotia, central Greece. They are often hand-made and highly simplified in form, efficiently communicating their subjects. This particular figurine is highly stylized and abstract (the horse and the rider are both decorated with reddish-black stripes); some others feature greater detail in their portrayal of animal and human form. Here, the rider figure lacks articulated legs, as its body merges into that of the horse. Their significance is not entirely clear, though they were always popular in graves, an indication that they were meant to display the heroic character of the dead in relation to his occupation as a warrior or hunter. Other horse and rider figurines are known from around the Mediterranean, including from Cyprus and Athens, where they have been attested earlier than those in Boeotia. Horses, whose ownership implied wealth on the part of their human owner, were status symbols in ancient Greek communities as well as important companions in human activities. Publication History Jan Stubbe Østergaard, "Terracotta horses and horsemen of Archaic Boeotia", Acta Hyperborea, Museum Tusculanum (Copenhagen, 1991), 3, 111-189, p.127, no. Da5, fig. 20 Exhibition History A World Within Reach: Greek and Roman Art from the Loeb Collection, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/28/2023 - 05/07/2023 Related Objects Object Number 1998.15.10 Title Man on a Striped Horse Classification Sculpture Object Number 1995.1151 Title Horse Classification Sculpture Object Number 1995.1155 Title Horse and Rider Classification Sculpture Object Number 1925.30.93 Title Horse Classification Sculpture Verification Level This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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
