On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Limestone statue of a boxer, known as Manneddu
Not on view
In the early first millennium BCE, the inhabitants of Sardinia erected colossal sculptures of boxers, archers, and warriors in a necropolis, or cemetery, at Mont’e Prama, on the western side of the island. Manneddu (from mannu in Sardinian, meaning large), as conservators named the figure when he was restored, is a boxer: a spiked glove once sheathed the forearm and fist of his missing right arm, and his raised left arm originally held a shield. Bronze statuettes with similar features, such as that in the photo here, have helped conservators to reassemble the enormous statues. The interpretation of the boxers is still uncertain. They may represent lightly armed warriors, or athletes competing in sacred games in honor of a deity or the dead.
