The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 27, 2024

Male Votive Figure

Male Votive Figure

300s BCE
Overall: 21.3 x 7.5 cm (8 3/8 x 2 15/16 in.); Base: 5.9 x 4.1 cm (2 5/16 x 1 5/8 in.)
Location: 102D Pre-Roman

Did You Know?

This bronze statuette was cast in a single piece.

Description

This Etruscan votive figure is posed with his hands turned to expose his palms, one near his hip, the other projecting laterally. With the exception of the fully three-dimensional head and the extended right arm and hand, the side profile of this figure is shockingly flat. The tall man’s back is not only extremely thin but also an almost perfectly vertical column. Other examples of this votive figure type are even more elongated, and some hold small cups or libation dishes, as if making offerings. Some scholars have suggested that these votive figures may represent shadows due to their extreme height and relative lack of depth, while others have seen connections to much older traditions of relatively flat cult images, whether of wood or metal.
  • Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1985.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (1986): 26–71. P. 62, no. 15. www.jstor.org
  • CMA 1986: "Year in Review 1985," February 12-April 6, 1986, CMA Bulletin 73, 62, no. 15.
  • {{cite web|title=Male Votive Figure|url=false|author=|year=300s BCE|access-date=27 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.3