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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1981.41
Title
Seated Man
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
second half 8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Peloponnesus
Period
Geometric period, Late
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304299

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
5 x 1.7 x 2.3 cm (1 15/16 x 11/16 x 7/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 90.87; Sn, 7.18; Pb, 0.81; Zn, 0.02; Fe, 0.82; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.02; Sb, less than 0.05; As, 0.15; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.056; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

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

Technical Observations: The patina is red and brown. The surface is smooth except for the area between the legs and the base. The figure is a solid lost-wax cast. Details appear to have been modeled in the wax. There is no incised or punched surface ornament.


Tony Sigel (submitted 1999)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, David M. Robinson Fund
Accession Year
1981
Object Number
1981.41
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 seated figure places his hands on either side of his head and rests his elbows on his knees. Whereas most seated figures rest on a chair or a stool above the base, the Harvard figure is positioned directly on the base. Where the buttocks and base meet, the bronze is seamless with no continuation of the edge of the base. A smooth, subtly undulating line runs from the crown of the head down the back to the buttocks, where it continues along the edge of the base to the front, before it turns up to the knees and then down again to the hip flexors. The unarticulated feet, set in front of the figure, curve inward and are flush with the leading edge of the base. The chest rises at the breastbone, and then tapers inward to the genitalia, which are only roughly indicated. Such indeterminate sexual anatomy is unusual in Geometric male figurines; a number of other seated and standing statuettes are clearly ithyphallic. The figure’s modeling is thick and rounded overall. The elbows rest on the knees, and the fists rest on the figure’s cheeks. The right arm is held slightly higher than the left.

This seated figure has many characteristics in common with the other twelve known examples of this figurine type, yet it also differs from them in significant ways (1). When viewed from either side, the figure is triangular. This form repeats in patterns of positive and negative space formed by the angles and extensions of the arms and legs, as well as by the voids between the extremities, torso, and base.

NOTES:

1. Most examples of seated statuettes are pictured and discussed in S. Langdon, “From Monkey to Man: The Evolution of a Geometric Sculptural Type,” American Journal of Archaeology 94 (1990): 407-24, esp. 409-13. See also D. G. Mitten and S. F. Doeringer, Master Bronzes from the Classical World, exh. cat., The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; City Art Museum of St. Louis; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Mainz, 1967) 32, no. 9; and A. P. Kozloff and D. G. Mitten, The Gods Delight: The Human Figure in Classical Bronze, exh. cat., The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Cleveland, 1988) 49-51, the seated figure in the Walters Art Museum. For a closely comparable seated bronze figure previously in the George Ortiz Collection, although more simian in appearance, see G. Ortiz, In Pursuit of the Absolute: Art of the Ancient World, The George Ortiz Collection (Bern, 1996) no. 74. On the influence of Egypt and the Near East on Geometric Greek seated figures, see P. Kranz, “Frühe griechische Sitzfiguren: Zum Problem der Typenbildung und des orientalischen Einflusses in der frühen griechischen Rundplastik,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung 87 (1972): 1-55.


Tamsey Andrews and David G. Mitten

Publication History

  • Peter Roger Stuart Moorey and H. W. Catling, Anitquities from the Bomford Collection, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology (Oxford, 1966), p. 62, no. 310, pl. 28.
  • Susan Langdon, "From Monkey to Man: The Evolution of a Geometric Sculptural Type", American Journal of Archaeology (1990), Vol. 94, 407-24, pp. 410, 412 fig. 8.
  • Susan Langdon, ed., From Pasture to Polis: Art in the Age of Homer, exh. cat., University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO, 1993), p. 144-46, no. 48.

Exhibition History

  • Antiquities from the Bomford Collection, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, 10/10/1966 - 10/30/1966
  • From Pasture to Polis: Art in the Age of Homer, Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri, Columbia, 10/09/1993 - 12/05/1993

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

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