Getty Museum

Trilobate Cuirass

Date

330–300 B.C.

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Italic (Samnite)

Department

Armor

Institution

Getty Museum

The front and back of the cuirass are designed as separate hinged panels, each with a pattern of three disks. The panels are held together over the shoulders by means of flat straps that attach to rings at the top of the panel. On one side, between the two disks that cover the pectoral muscles, is an incised figure of a winged, nude youth, facing to left. He wears boots, has short hair, and wears a fillet in his hair. His left hand is extended outward, his right arm falls to his side. On the other side, the incised figure in the same location is Hermes. The nude youth wears a petasos and boots, and holds his caduceus, tip down, in his lowered right arm. His left arm is extended forward. He wears a cloak that is clasped around his neck, and fans out behind him in two large folds. There is a groundline beneath his feet. The finials of the clasps that attach to the shoulder straps are designed as frontal heads of bearded satyrs where they are soldered to the cuirass, and as elongated palmettes where they attach to the straps.

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.