Bronze statuette of a Black African youth

Greek

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 164


The sensitively rendered statuette depicts a Black African youth wearing wrapped around his waist a tunic, the distinctive garment characteristic of artisans, especially those working in the heat of a foundry, forge, or brazier. The medium of the bronze, which once would have been tinted black, works in tandem with the youth’s tight curls and facial features to indicate the physical appearance of a Black African individual. In the Hellenistic period, a greater diversity of people lived and worked together in Greek cities, and depictions of Black African individuals as artists, scholars, athletes, servants, and enslaved people point to their range of stations and occupations within society.

#1080. Bronze statuette of an African (known as Ethiopian) youth

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Bronze statuette of a Black African youth, Bronze, Greek

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Bronze statuette of a Black African youth, Bronze, Greek
Bronze statuette of a Black African youth, Bronze, Greek
Bronze statuette of a Black African youth, Bronze, Greek
Bronze statuette of a Black African youth, Bronze, Greek
Bronze statuette of a Black African youth, Bronze, Greek

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