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A child with wings

A nude child with wings seems to walk forward, in one lowered arm they hold a long pointed object in their left hand which seems to be a torch, and their right arm is raised. They tilt and turn their head up and to the left, and the twisting of their body reveals one wing under the raised right arm. The surface is mottled green brown and beige, with no distinction between skin, hair or wings.

Gallery Text

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin that has been used for thousands of years to make objects as diverse as sculpture and figurines, weapons and armor, and jewelry and tableware. The addition of tin and sometimes lead made the alloy more versatile and lowered its melting point; another common copper alloy is brass (copper and zinc), which was in widespread use in the Roman period. Although other materials, like stone, glass, and terracotta, were available, copper alloy items were valued for their golden sheen, versatility, and durability. The material lent prestige and beauty to objects like these statuettes, most of which would have been dedicated to the gods. Modern bronzes are often artificially patinated, like the Rodin sculpture in this colonnade. While ancient bronzes were sometimes gilded or deliberately darkened, the unaltered surfaces naturally acquired a red, green, or brown patina over time.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1979.399
Title
Eros Lifting a Torch
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
1st century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Asia Minor?
Period
Hellenistic period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303784

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3200, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Classical Sculpture
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
15.2 x 11.3 x 9 cm (6 x 4 7/16 x 3 9/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 81.66; Sn, 7.86; Pb, 9.91; Zn, 0.331; Fe, 0.08; Ni, 0.04; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.07; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.007; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Leaded Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, lead
Other Elements: iron
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is light grayish green, and there are areas of exposed metal and spots of black sulfide corrosion products. The ends of the wings, as well as the thumb and two fingers of the left hand, are broken off and lost. The surface has been polished, waxed, and buffed to a high finish as part of a restoration treatment.

The statuette is a solid cast in a single piece. A somewhat fluid quality in the lines depicting the hair, feathers, and torch suggest they were made by working directly in the wax model. A 2-mm hole at the top of the head is a casting flaw.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Mrs. Therese Kuhn Straus, New York, (by 1977), sold; through the Estate, (1977-1979), to; the Fogg Art Museum, 1979.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, David M. Robinson Fund through the Estate of Therese K. Straus
Accession Year
1979
Object Number
1979.399
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
The young god of love stands with his right foot forward and his left arm raised, hand open, as he turns his head up and to the right. He holds a burning torch in his lowered right hand. His hair is gathered in a small knot centered above his forehead, and long flowing locks fall onto his left shoulder, neck, and upper back. His eyes are open, and his mouth is closed. His nude chubby body is carefully modelled. His wings are spread open behind his back; the feathers are beautifully articulated on the front but are not indicated on the back.

Eros is frequently depicted holding a torch (1). He is sometimes shown extinguishing the flame, which in later representations on Roman sarcophagi most likely alludes to death (2). In the case of the Harvard statuette, the burning torch may symbolize ardent desire and burning love, as described in Hellenistic and later Roman poetry such as the Odes of Horace.

NOTES:

1. The finest example in bronze is the large statuette of Eros running with a torch in the collection of the Morgan Library and Museum, New York; see G. M. A. Richter, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1915) 85-90, no. 131.

2. An Early Hellenistic representation of Eros extinguishing his torch by leaning on it appears on a gilt silver pyxis thought to have been found at Morgantina, Sicily; see P. G. Guzzo, “A Group of Hellenistic Silver Objects in the Metropolitan Museum,” Metropolitan Museum Journal 38 (2003): 45-94, esp. 82, fig. 68.


Seán Hemingway

Publication History

  • Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), Artemis (Zürich, Switzerland, 1999), Vol. 3, Eros 387.
  • [Reproduction Only], Persephone, (Fall 2004)., p. 26.

Exhibition History

  • Hellenistic Art: Objects from an Expanded World, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/03/2006 - 07/29/2007
  • Re-View: S422-423 Western Art of the Middle Ages & Renaissance, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/16/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 3200 West Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Google Art Project

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