The clarity and elegance of form in Greek Geometric art is as effective in three-dimensional sculpture as it is in vase painting. Small-scale bronzes, such as this horse, were produced in workshops throughout the Greek mainland and represent the most innovative sculptural achievements of the period.
This solid-cast bronze horse, probably made in Corinth, exemplifies Geometric art at its best. The flat parts of the neck and legs are carefully integrated with the cylindrical muzzle and body of the animal. The base, articulated with triangular patterns suggesting a rocky terrain, further contributes a sense of volume and lends definition to the space occupied by the figure. Decorated base-plates—with perforated or relief geometric patterns—are typical of such statuettes during the later part of the eighth century BCE. This feature served as a stand but might also have been used as some kind of early stamp or seal.
All over the Greek world, Geometric bronze horse statuettes as this one have been found at sanctuaries in great quantities, where they were deposited as votive offerings to the gods. Though other animals, and more rarely humans, were also represented, horses largely outnumber all other types of solid cast statuettes. Ownership of horses was a status symbol for aristocrats, who used these animals in warfare and in the competitive sphere of horse and chariot races, often held at sanctuaries.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Bronze horse
Period:Geometric
Date:8th century BCE
Culture:Greek, Corinthian ?
Medium:Bronze
Dimensions:H.: 6 15/16 x 5 1/4 x 1 3/8 in. (17.6 x 13.3 x 3.5 cm)
Classification:Bronzes
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1921
Accession Number:21.88.24
[Until 1921, with Th. Zoumpoulakis and G. Christodoulos]; acquired in 1921, purchased from Th. Zoumpoulakis and G. Christodoulos.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1923. "Classical Bronzes: Recent Accessions." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 18(3): p. 75.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. Animals in Greek Sculpture: A Survey. pp. 15, 55, pl. 14, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Albright Art Gallery. February 1937. Master Bronzes : Selected from Museums and Collections in America: The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, exhibition-catalogue. no. 63, Buffalo.
Alexander, Christine. 1939. Early Greek Art: A Picture Book. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Markman, Sidney David. 1943. The Horse in Greek Art. pp. 16, 22, 23–4, 109, 111, fig. 7, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Alexander, Christine. 1945. "Early Statuettes from Greece." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 3(10): pp. 239, 242.
1947. Small Bronzes of the Ancient World: An Exhibition. March 23 through April 20, 1947. no. 54, p. 9, Detroit: The Detroit Institute of Arts.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1950. Small Sculptures in Bronze: A Picture Book. p. 16, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. p. 173, pl. 13e, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Kübler, Karl. 1954. "Die Nekropole des 10. bis 8. Jahrhunderts." Kerameikos: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen, Vol. 5.1. p. 179, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
Anderson, J. K. 1961. "The Mediterranean Regions." Creative Crafts, 2: p. 13.
Glubok, Shirley. 1963. The Art of Greece. p. 28, New York: Atheneum.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1964. Guide to the Collections: Greek and Roman Art. p. 7, fig. 6, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Himmelmann, Nikolaus. 1964. Bemerkungen zur Geometrischen Plastik. p. 28, fig. 61, Berlin: Gebr. Mann.
Hanfmann, George M.A. 1967. Classical Sculpture. pp. 15, 56, 304, fig. 17, Greenwich: New York Graphic Society.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1970. Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. New York: Dutton.
Hoffmann, Herbert, John D. Cooney, and Herbert A. Cahn. 1971. Collecting Greek Antiquities. pp. 63–4, New York: C. N. Potter.
1972. Guide to the Metropolitan Museum of Art no. 8, p. 165, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Yalouris, Nikolaos. 1974. "Three Geometric Figurines." Antike Kunst, 17(1): pp. 21–23, pl. 3.4.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. no. 8, p. 24, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Mattusch, Carol. 1988. Greek Bronze Statuary: From the Beginnings through the Fifth Century B.C.. p. 28–9, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Zimmerman, Jean-Louis. 1989. Les Chevaux de Bronze dans l'Art Géométrique Grec. COR 20, pp. 180, 190, 332, 345–6, Mayence: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Hemingway, Seán A. 2006. "Horse and Man in Greek Art." Sculpture Review, 55(2): no. 2, p. 9.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 31, pp. 49, 413, 415, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hemingway, Seán, Nicole Stribling, Dr. John H. Oakley, Carol Mattusch, and Seth D. Pevnick. 2017. The Horse in Ancient Greek Art, Mr. Peter J. Schertz, ed. p. 15, fig. 13, Virginia: National Sporting Library & Museum.
Hemingway, Seán. 2021. How to Read Greek Sculpture. no. 1, pp. 24, 48–49, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
