Harpista sentado

2800–2700 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 151
Existem apenas algumas representações de músicos na arte da Idade do Bronze inicial nas ilhas e essa figura é uma das mais antigas. Os harpistas eram provavelmente membros importantes da comunidade que atuavam como repositórios humanos e comunicadores da história, a mitologia e a música do seu povo em um tempo anterior à escrita. Podem ser considerados precursores dos músicos profissionais da heroica Era Micênica mencionados nos poemas épicos de Homero, tais como a Odisseia, e, mais tarde, na rica tradição poética oral da antiga Grécia.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Título: Harpista sentado
  • Período: Final do período cicládico I–início do período cicládico II
  • Data: ca. 2800–2700 a.C.
  • Geografia: Ilhas cicládicas
  • Meio: Mármore
  • Dimensões: 29,2 cm de altura
  • Linha de créditos: Fundo Rogers, 1947
  • Número de acesso: 47.100.1
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

Audio

Disponível apenas em: English
Cover Image for 833. Kids: Marble seated harp player

833. Kids: Marble seated harp player

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Look up at the top shelf of this case. Find the white marble statuette of the man in a chair, holding a musical instrument—there are two very similar to each other. We’re going to look at the one on the left.

Do you recognize that three-sided instrument that he’s holding? Imagine strings running from top to bottom. This man’s playing a harp. His head bends back, as if he’s lost in the music. You’re listening to music played on a modern harp. But we’re not sure what this ancient Greek instrument sounded like. Have you ever tried playing a harp? It takes strong fingers. This figure has big, muscular fingers and arms. He might be a poet as well a musician. The ancient Greek poets spoke their verses out loud, and often accompanied themselves on stringed instruments like the harp.

This sculpture is more than four thousand years old. Like the other sculptures in this room, it comes from a group of islands named the Cyclades. The marble figures from the Cyclades are called Cycladic sculptures. Cycladic sculptures mark the beginning of a long history of Greek and Roman sculptures in marble, as you’ll see in some of the other rooms nearby.

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