Art Institute of Chicago
Bird on a Knob
Greek; ThessalyLinkedCulture matchlcp-25a02db92899
- Date
- Geometric Period (800–600 BCE)
- Medium
- Bronze
- Culture
- Greece
- Department
- Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 196491
These precious bronze objects are votives, or devotional gifts, which were offered to the gods. They come in many forms. Some are miniature sculptures of animals, primarily horses, deer, and birds. Others are items of personal adornment, including beads and brooches. Many seem once to have been attached to something else. This assemblage is characteristic of the thousands of votives that were hung from sacred trees or placed in sanctuaries around Greece. Once a shrine was full, the votives were ceremonially buried to make room for more offerings.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Alexander
- Provenance
- George Zakos, Basel, Switzerland from at least 1965 [according to email from the owner of Ariadne Galleries to Mrs. Walter Alexander in curatorial file]; purchased by Ariadne Galleries of New York, NY about 1975; sold to Mr. and Mrs. Walter Alexander of Geneva, IL, 1985; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2008.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300301253
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