Bronze handle with dogs flanking a reclining youth
This magnificent handle may well represent the sleeping Endymion, the beloved hunter of Artemis, who was granted immortality and eternal youth but also perpetual sleep. The subject is especially appropriate, since such handles are often associated with large bronze vessels that served as cremation urns. Closely parallel to this handle is a pair--one now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the other in the Antikenmuseum, Berlin--that comes from Città della Pieve, north of Orvieto (ancient Volsinii).
Artwork Details
- Title: Bronze handle with dogs flanking a reclining youth
- Period: Late Classical
- Date: 4th century BCE
- Culture: Etruscan
- Medium: Bronze
- Dimensions: H.: 7 x 9 9/16 in. (17.8 x 24.3 cm)
- Classification: Bronzes
- Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1928
- Object Number: 28.57.13
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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Etruscan
ca. 350 BCE
Etruscan
late 6th century BCE
Etruscan
2nd quarter of the 6th century BCE
Etruscan
early 5th century BCE
Etruscan
ca. 550 BCE
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