Getty Museum

Statuette of a Horse

Date

750–700 B.C.

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Greek

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

This horse is typical of small bronzes made in Greece in the 700s B.C., the so-called Geometric period. Many aspects of the figure's form are determined by technique – for example, the flat surfaces and tubular elements that make up the animal's anatomy derive from the sheets and rolls of wax that the artisan used in creating a model before casting. The stylistic traits of the horse suggest that it was made in northern Greece, perhaps in ancient Macedonia or Thessaly . The 700s B.C. saw the rise of the great Greek sanctuaries such as Olympia. In these sanctuaries, bronze statuettes were a popular dedication to the gods. Horses were by far the favorite subject for these dedications and are found in every sanctuary of this period. Horses required extensive land and upkeep and thus became symbols of wealth and power in early Greece.

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