This multicolored pair of eyes suggests the lifelike impression that inlays lent to ancient sculpture. The eyelashes are cut from two sheets of bronze that form a casing for the rest of the eye. The whites are made from frit, which is a kind of glass paste, while the cornea and iris are colored quartz framed with marble. Although damaged, the pupils were once perfectly circular disks of black obsidian, a volcanic glass.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Pair of eyes
Period:Classical
Date:5th century BCE or later
Culture:Greek
Medium:Bronze, marble, frit, quartz, obsidian
Dimensions:maximum H. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm) maximum length 2in. (5.1cm)
Classification:Bronzes
Credit Line:Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Cullman Gift and Norbert Schimmel Bequest, 1991
Accession Number:1991.11.3a, b
[Until 1991, with the Merrin Gallery, New York]; acquired in 1991, purchased from the Merrin Gallery.
Picón, Carlos A., Elizabeth J. Milleker, and Joan R. Mertens. 1991. "Recent Acquisitions: A Selection 1990–1991." Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 49(2): p. 8.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1991. "One Hundred Twenty-first Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 1990 through June 30, 1991." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 121: p. 32.
Haynes, Denys E.L. 1992. The Technique of Greek Bronze Statuary. pp. 106–7, pl. 10, Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Hemingway, Seán A. 2000. "Bronze Sculpture." Making Classical Art: Process and Practice, Roger Ling, ed. p. 44, pl. 3, Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia.
Hemingway, Seán. 2000. "A Technical Analysis of the Bronze Horse and Jockey Group from Artemision." From the Parts to the Whole: Acta of the 13th International Bronze Congress held at Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 28 - June 1, 1996, Carol Mattusch, Amy Brauer, and Sandra E. Knudsen, eds. p. 232 n. 15, Portsmith, R.I.: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
Hemingway, Seán Dr. 2004. The Horse and Jockey from Artemision: A Bronze Equestrian Monument of the Hellenistic Period. p. 12, fig. 8
, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 141, pp. 127, 433, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Panzanetti, Roberta, Eike D. Schmidt, and Kenneth Lapatin. 2008. The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present p. 109, fig. 77, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust.
Plantzos, Dimitris. 2018. The Art of Painting in Ancient Greece. p. 172, fig. 164, Atlanta: Lockwood Press.
Hemingway, Seán. 2021. How to Read Greek Sculpture. no. 13, pp. 36, 79, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
