Cleveland Museum of Art

Statuette of a Warrior

Date

500–450 BCE

Medium

bronze

Culture

Etruscan

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Striding forward with its left foot, this warrior likely once held a shield in the left hand and a spear or sword in the right. The statuette was acquired together with a miniature bronze sword with which it was said to have been found; a photograph taken around 1890 shows the warrior with the sword attached—probably wrongly—to the left hand. He wears an unusual helmet with two raised elements on top, and a simple v-neck cuirass or tunic with a lower border of dots and flaps. Many similarly posed bronze figurines have been found across central Italy, but scholars disagree as to whether they represent divine or mortal warriors. The lump of lead beneath its feet probably once secured this figurine to a base.

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