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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
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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

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