Bronze leg of a cauldron with horseman and bird

Bronze leg of a cauldron with horseman and bird

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Originally part of a set of three, this solid cast bronze leg in the form of a horse and rider would have supported a large bowl or basin used in lavish Etruscan gatherings. These vessels are common at Vetulonia, in Etruria, where this leg was likely manufactured, and continue a long tradition of bronze working in this metal-rich region. As symbols of wealth and status, the vessels were frequently buried with their owners, and perhaps allude to the funerary banquet.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze leg of a cauldron with horseman and birdBronze leg of a cauldron with horseman and birdBronze leg of a cauldron with horseman and birdBronze leg of a cauldron with horseman and birdBronze leg of a cauldron with horseman and bird

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.