Bronze strainer with openwork handle
This is one of the most elaborate and best-preserved Etruscan strainer handles. The artist has skillfully presented a complex subject on a very small scale in the openwork square just below the handle's attachment point. Two nude boxers appear to have just finished a bout in which one man has been knocked to his knees. Their trainer or referee holds his arms up to indicate the end of the round. On the underside of the attachment point is a delicately modeled doe lying on a wave-crest border. The handle's base depicts a bearded male figure with fish-like legs that terminate in bearded snake heads. The strange legs form a perfect circular opening that allowed the patera to be hung when not in use. The sea monster, almost like a merman, may have been intended to ward off evil.
Artwork Details
- Title: Bronze strainer with openwork handle
- Period: Classical
- Date: 5th century BCE
- Culture: Etruscan
- Medium: Bronze
- Dimensions: length 11 1/2in. (29.2cm)
- Classification: Bronzes
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1912
- Object Number: 12.160.8
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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Etruscan
ca. 550–500 BCE
Etruscan
ca. 350 BCE
Etruscan
late 6th century BCE
Etruscan
2nd quarter of the 6th century BCE
Etruscan
early 5th century BCE
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