About This Artwork

Etruscan

Architectural Relief, Hellenistic Period, 3rd/2nd century B.C.

Terracotta, pigment
45.8 x 46 x 21.9 cm (18 1/16 x 18 1/8 x 8 5/8 in.)
Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund, 1984.2

The Etruscans often decorated their buildings with brightly colored sculptural compositions based on Greek mythology. These three animated figures--battling gods and a giant—were probably once part of a series of ornamental covers called antefixes, which were placed along the lowest row of roof tiles on a small building, probably a temple.