Getty Museum

Folding Tripod

Date

A.D. 250–300

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Roman

Department

Implements

Institution

Getty Museum

Images of horses in different phases of life surmount the legs of this Roman folding tripod stand. A nursing foal represents infancy, a rearing stallion represents the prime of life, and a stallion drinking quietly from a kantharos represents old age. In Roman art, the kantharos often has symbolic connections with the afterlife, perhaps as an allusion to a Bacchic paradise. Tripods such as this held cauldrons used in religious rituals and sacrifices. Burnt offerings and libations were offered to the gods in the now-missing cauldron that would have been attached to the hooks behind the horses. The legs of the tripod end in feline paws; one leg has a handle decorated with the head of a panther, which would have been used to carry the stand when folded or to hang a ladle when open.

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