Altar made from a reused four-horse chariot (quadriga) with two male riders
Date5th century BCE, reused after that
Periodearly Classical
Object GeographyCyprus
CultureCypriot
Geography NotesSaid to have been "found in the temple" at Golgoi, Cyprus
MediumLimestone with red paint
ClassificationSculpture
ProvenanceFound by Luigi Palma di Cesnola (American Consul to Cyprus, 1865–1876); purchased by subscription by the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1874–1876; (sale, the Anderson Galleries, New York), March 31, 1928; purchased by John Ringling; bequest to The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 1936-present.
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN28.1800
The heads of the horses and upper parts of the riders of this four-horse chariot (quadriga) are missing. They seem to have been deliberately broken off in antiquity. For a secondary use of the object, the sculpture was turned upside-down and hollowed out as an altar.
On View
Not on viewHeight (at riders): 6 11/16 in. (17 cm)
Length (of chariot group front to back): 10 5/8 in. (27 cm)
Width (of the chariot, hind parts of horses): 9 7/16 in. (24 cm)
Width (of the chariot, front parts of horses): 9 7/16 in. (24 cm)
Rider group
Width: 7 7/8 in. (20 cm)
Horses
Height: 6 5/16 in. (16 cm)
Underside
Length (front to back): 9 13/16 in. (25 cm)
Width (underside): 9 7/16 in. (24 cm)
Underside, interior carving
Length: 6 11/16 in. (17 cm)
Width: 6 11/16 in. (17 cm)
Depth: 1 3/4 in. (4.5 cm)
Medium Details
Color
Stone: 2.5 Y 8/3 (pale yellow) (altar) 10 YR 7/3 (very pale brown) (chariot)
Paint: 10R 5/4 (weak red)
Inclusions
n/a
The Strobridge Lithographing Company
1889
late 5th–early 4th century BCE