The man steadies two large jars that are fastened in front of him on either side of the animal's back. The jars are types that would hold wine or olive oil. The statuette captures what would have been a frequent sight, not only in ancient Cyprus but also for centuries thereafter.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Terracotta statuette of a man riding a donkey
Period:Cypro-Archaic II
Date:ca. 600–480 BCE
Culture:Cypriot
Medium:Terracotta; handmade
Dimensions:H. 4 7/16 in. (11.3 cm)
Classification:Terracottas
Credit Line:The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
Accession Number:74.51.1787
From Cyprus, said to be from a tomb at Alambra
Doell, Johannes. 1873. Die Sammlung Cesnola. no. 942, p. 62, pl. XIV.17, St. Petersburg: L’Académie Impérial des Sciences.
Colonna-Ceccaldi, Georges. 1882. Monuments Antiques de Chypre, de Syrie et d'Égypte. pp. 132–33, fig. 3, Paris: Didier.
Perrot, Georges and Charles Chipiez. 1885. Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité. t. 3, Phénicie, Cypre. pp. 181–82, fig. 119, Paris: Hachette.
Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1894. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 2. pl. XIV.105, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.
Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 2034, p. 343, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1933. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 5th ed. pp. 115, 117, fig. 140, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1941. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 6th ed. pp. 115, 117, fig. 140, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Karageorghis, Vassos. 1995. The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus, Vol. 4. no. II(i)e.7, p. 96, pl. L.3, Nicosia: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 245, pp. 154–55, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Karageorghis, Vassos. 2006. Aspects of Everyday Life in Cyprus: Iconographic Representations. no. 168, p. 178, Nicosia: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Gloria Merker, and Joan R. Mertens. 2016. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Terracottas. no. 108, pp. 65, 256, Online Publication, [CD-Rom 2004], New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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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.
