Three figures are shown reclining on a horizontal surface with wheels. The larger figures, man and woman, support themselves on cushions while the third, smaller person plays the double flute. The representation immediately suggests the musical contingent of an ancient Cypriot "hayride." However, it is well to remember the wheeled carts that participated in Athenian processions; most notable was the wheeled ship in the festival of the Anthesteria dedicated to Dionysos. The "cart" here is a wheeled couch, perhaps representing a special conveyance used under special circumstances.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Terracotta model of a "cart"
Period:Cypro-Archaic II
Date:ca. 600–480 BCE
Culture:Cypriot
Medium:Terracotta; hand-made
Dimensions:H. 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm)
Classification:Terracottas
Credit Line:The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
Object Number:74.51.1792
Doell, Johannes. 1873. Die Sammlung Cesnola. no. 940, p. 62, pl. XV.15, St. Petersburg: L’Académie Impérial des Sciences.
Colonna-Ceccaldi, Georges. 1882. Monuments Antiques de Chypre, de Syrie et d'Égypte. p. 133, fig. 4, Paris: Didier.
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.108, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1895. The Terracottas and Pottery of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in Halls 4 and 15. no. 616, p. 44, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 2110, p. 346, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Klein, Anita Elizabeth. 1932. Child Life in Greek Art. p. 9, ns. 82, 84, New York: Columbia University Press.
Mercklin, Eugen von. 1935. "Neuerwerbungen der Antikenabteilung im Hamburgischen Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe." Archäologischer Anzeiger, : pp. 84–85.
Crouwel, Joost H. 1985. "Carts in Iron Age Cyprus." Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (RDAC), : no. TM1, pp. 204, 206, 209, 212, 217, pl. XXXI.4.
Karageorghis, Vassos. 1991. "La vie quotidienne a Chypre." Cypriote terracottas : proceedings of the First International Conference of Cypriote Studies, Brussels-Liège-Amsterdam, 29 May-1 June, 1989 / organized by the "Groupe de Contact interuniversitaire d'études chypriotes", F.N.R.S./N.F.W.O. (Belgium), Frieda Vandenabeele and Robert Laffineur, eds. p. 167, Brussels-Liège: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.
Karageorghis, Vassos. 1995. The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus, Vol. 4. no. II(iv) 5, p. 122, pl. LXXIII. 5, Nicosia: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.
Barnes, Lorna and Ellen Salzman. 1998. "Preliminary Investigations of Surface Decoration on a Group of Ancient Terracottas from Cyprus." Glass, Ceramics and Related Materials : ICOM Committee for Conservation Glass, Ceramics, and Related Materials Working Group, & Institute of Arts and Design Department of Conservation Studies, Alice B. Paterakis, ed. pp. 78, 83, fig. 2, Vantaa, Finland: EVTEK Institute of Art and Design, Dept. of Conservation Studies.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 239, p. 151, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Karageorghis, Vassos. 2006. Aspects of Everyday Life in Cyprus: Iconographic Representations. no. 151, pp. 167–68, Nicosia: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Gloria Merker, and Joan R. Mertens. 2016. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Terracottas. no. 89, pp. 55, 255, Online Publication, [CD-Rom 2004], New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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