Statuette of a Horse

750-730 BCE

Greek

This small statuette was created in Greece around the time of the first Olympic games (776 BCE). It was made as
a gift for a god and was probably deposited at a religious site. Devotional gifts took many forms, but statuettes of horses were especially popular because the creatures were symbols of affluence. Following the stylistic preference of the time, the sculptor used a few simple shapes to capture the animal’s essence.

Status: On View, Gallery 151
Department: Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Statuette of a Horse
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 750 BCE–730 BCE
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 9.2 × 8.2 × 2.6 cm (3 5/8 × 3 1/4 × 1 in.)
Credit Line: Katherine K. Adler, Costa A. Pandaleon Greek Memorial, and Mr. and Mrs. Walter Alexander Classical Endowment, James H. Allan and Christopher D. Allan funds
Reference Number: 2016.193
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/237363/manifest.json

Sotheby’s, New York, Antiquities, sale cat. (Sotheby’s, New York, June 5, 1999), lot 107.
Sotheby’s, New York, Antiquities, sale cat. (Sotheby’s, New York, December 9, 2003), lot 33.
Claire Brown (ed.), Rupert Wace Ancient Art, XXX (London, 2017), cat. no. 27.

The European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre Maastricht, The Netherlands, March 11-20, 2016.
Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, October 10, 2016 - present.

Collection of Mrs. John Hay Whitney (died 1998), New York, from Mathias Komor, 1961 [John Hay Whitney and Betsey Cushing Whitney Family Papers (MS1938), Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, ledger entry]; sold at Sotheby’s, New York, June 5, 1999, to an unnamed owner in the United States; sold at Sotheby’s, New York, December 9, 2003, to an unnamed owner in New Jersey; Rupert Wace Ancient Art, Ltd., London; purchased by the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, in 2016.

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On View

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Department

Culture

Title

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Dimensions

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Department

Culture

Title

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Dimensions

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Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.