Catalogue - Metropolitan Museum of Art

46
The volute-krater was a Laconian
invention and the shape is known both
in terracotta and bronze. In Greek bronze
vessels the handles, the foot, and
sometimes the rim were cast, while the
body was hammered ("raised") from sheet
metal. In contrast to other shapes like
the hydria, relatively few bronze volute-
kraters have survived. Often the
hammered walls of the body disintegrated,
leaving only the cast portions; parts of
the krater from which this handle comes
are in Odessa.
Volute-krater handle with the figure of a
gorgon and snakes. Bronze, height 16 cm.
(65/6 in.).
Greek, 6th century B.C. Dnieper region,
Kirovograd district, Martonosha village.
Chance find, 1870. Hermitage, Dn 1870, 1/1.
Artamonov, Splendor, pl. 67.
47
Curled-up predatory animal with a goat and
bird's head decorating its body, bridle
plaque. Bronze, length 10.5 cm. (4Y8 in.).
Scythian, beginning of the 5th century.
Crimea, Kulakovsky kurgan 2. Excavations
of J. A. Kulakovsky, 1895. Hermitage,
Cr 1895, 10/2.
Artamonov, Splendor, pl. 78.
48 (Color plate 11)
A winged panther has jumped on the back
of a seated goat. The ornaments-the egg
and dart pattern above, and a stylized
lotus below-are common in Greek art, but
winged panthers are rare, as is the docile
goat. A silver cup found in this kurgan
depicts a seated Nike and allows us to
date the burial sometime after 470 B.C.
Winged feline attacking a goat, curved
triangular plaque from a wooden rhyton.
Gold, height 9.8 cm. (313/16 in.).
Scythian, showing Iranian influence, 5th
century B.C. Taman, Seven Brothers, kurgan
4. Excavations of V. G. Tiesenhausen,
1876. Hermitage, SBr IV, 5.
Artamonov, Splendor, pl. 116.
49
Senmurv (mythical Iranian animal), curved
triangular plaque from a wooden rhyton.
Gold, height 8.3 cm. (33, in.).
Scythian, showing Iranian influence, 5th
century B.C. Taman, Seven Brothers,
kurgan 4. Excavations of V. G. Tiesenhausen,
1876. Hermitage, SBr IV, 8.
Artamonov, Splendor, pi. 121.
50
Recumbent stag looking backward, bridle
plaque. Bronze, length 4.7 cm. (1%/8
in.).
Scythian, 5th century B.C. Taman, Seven
Brothers, kurgan 4. Excavations of V. G.
Tiesenhausen, 1876. Hermitage, SBr IV, 38.
Artamonov, Splendor, pl. 130.
51 (Color plate 9)
These small ornaments, intended to be
fastened to clothing as shown by the
attachment holes, are rather coarse
adaptations of standard Greek motifs. The
male head with the horns of a bull
represents Acheloos; the winged boar is
known from coins of Clazomenae (a
Greek town in Anatolia); the owl, sacred
to Athens, is a standard device of
Athenian coins.
Ram's head, standing lion, bull's head, head
of a bearded man with horns and bovine
ears, owl, rooster, and protome of a winged
boar: clothing ornament plaques. Gold,
heights 3.3-1.9 cm. (15/6-3 in.).
Scythian, showing Greek influence, 5th
century B.C. Taman, Seven Brothers, kurgan
2. Excavations of V. G. Tiesenhausen, 1875.
Hermitage, SBr II, 1-5, 9,22.
Artamonov, Splendor, figs. 48, 43, 44, 46, 50,
47, 49.
50
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