Half man, half horse, the centaurs were thought to inhabit remote wooded areas. In much of Greek art, they appear in combat with humans and, by implication, are the antithesis of civilized men. The classic rendering of this subject can be seen in the metopes of the Parthenon in Athens. It is, however, already fully presented in this bronze statuette. The outcome of the conflict is indicated by the end of the spear preserved in the centaur's left flank and by the greater height of the man.

Said to be from Olympia (Mertens 1985, p. 19).

From 1906, collection of J. Pierpont Morgan, purchased on the art market, Paris; acquired December 17, 1917, gift of J. Pierpont Morgan.

Sambon, A. 1906. "Bronzes et terres cuites." Le musée: Revue d'art mensuelle 3: 429, fig. 3.

Baur, P. V. C. 1912. Centaurs in Ancient Art: The Archaic Period. Berlin: K. Curtius, p. 79, fig. 15.

Smith, C. H. 1913. Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan: Bronzes, Antique Greek, Roman, etc., including Some Antique Objects in Gold and Silver. Paris: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, pp. 32-33, no. 80, ill.

Richter, G. M. A. 1917. Handbook of the Classical Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 43-44, fig. 23.

Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. 1937. Master Bronzes: Selected from Museums and Collections in America. Buffalo, N.Y., no. 62, ill.

Alexander, Christine. 1945. "Early Statuettes from Greece." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 3(10): p. 242.

von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1978. Antichnoe iskusstvo iz muzeia Metropoliten, Soedinennye Shtaty Ameriki. Moscow: Sovetskii Khudozhnik, no. 87.

Hampe, R., and E. Simon. 1980. Un millénaire d'art grec, 1600-600. Fribourg: Office du Livre, p. 234, pls. 380, 381.

Heilmeyer, Wolf-Dieter. 1982. Frühgriechische Kunst: Kunst und Siedlung im geometrischen Griechenland. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, pp. 30, 47; figs. 37-38.

Mertens, Joan R. 1985. "Greek Bronzes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 43(2): no. 7, pp. 7, 18-19.

Strouse, Jean with Joan R. Mertens. 2000. "J. Pierpont Morgan: Financier and Collector." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 57(3): pp. 42-43, fig. 48.

Mertens, Joan R. 2000. "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1999-2000." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 58(2): p. 10.

Lebessi, A. 2002. To iero tou Erme kai tes Aphrodites ste Syme Biannou. Vol. 3, Ta Chalkina anthropomorpha eidolia. Athens, pp. 227, 253.

Hemingway, Seán. 2003. In The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art, edited by J. M. Padgett. Princeton: Princeton University Art Museum, pp. 133-36, no. 13.

Picón, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 33, pp. 50, 415.