Cleveland Museum of Art

Vessel Ornament of Reclining Lyre-player

Date

probably 400–375 BCE

Medium

bronze with gilding traces

Culture

Etruscan

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This bronze banqueter figurine was one of six once adorning the rim of a large basin, now lost. Cast in molds with individualized details, most have grooves on their underside to attach to the basin. Minute traces of gilding remain on areas of clothing and skin (mostly visible only under magnification), suggesting that they may have been completely gilded. Two handles in the form of hippocampi, horses with serpentine tails, also belonged to the basin and are now displayed at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. The basin may have been used to hold liquid for a banquet, or was perhaps funerary. This reclining banqueter holds a lyre in his left hand and an oblong pick in his right hand. His face tilts toward the lyre and garlands hang around his head and chest. Two bare feet emerge from the bottom of the himation in a position distinct from the feet of the other figurines in this group. Some gilding remains on the top edges of the lyre and on the banqueter’s lips and drapery. The lyre held by this banqueter bears traces of gilding.

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