1972.48: Arula

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1972.48

Title

Arula

Classification

Sculpture

Work Type

sculpture

Date

c. 510 BCE-490 BCE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe

Period

Archaic period

Culture

Greek

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/288170

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Terracotta, tan porous clay with large particles of brick-red grog

Technique

Mold-made

Dimensions

H. 18 x W. 35 x D.15 cm (7 1/16 x 13 3/4 x 5 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Dr. Philip Lederer, Berlin. to Charles L. Moreley. to Frederick M. Watkins,1963, bequest; to The Fogg Art Museum, 1972.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Frederick M. Watkins

Accession Year

1972

Object Number

1972.48

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Greek, Sicilian or South Italian. Mold-made relief. Yellow-gray calcium carbonate deposit obscures surface. Much of top and bottom profiles broken. No trace of fire or other sacrifical use on top.

This rectangular "arula", or small altar, has concave sides and simple projecting profiles at top and bottom. On the top left profile are two squares of meander pattern. The front shows, under an arching vine, a silen walking to the right, looking back, with a tall-handled kantharos in his extended right hand and a branch in his left. He is followed by a horse carrying a maenad and a small silen or satyr. His right foot is human, his left equine or incomplete. The maenad, dressed in an overgirt "chiton" rather than the customary tight "peplos," seems to drop the reins from her raised left hand as she glides off the horse. Her bent right arm is intertwined with the left arm of a small satyr, who clutches the tail of the horse with his right hand. He has a short, erect penis. The horse, with arching neck, paws the ground as a cheetah passes under his nose, chasing a hare that looks back over its shoulder.

Publication History

• The Frederick M. Watkins Collection, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1973), p. 32-33, no. 11.

Exhibition History

• The Frederick M. Watkins Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 01/31/1973 - 03/14/1973
• 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/07/2016 - 05/08/2016

Verification Level