Statuette of a Warrior

500–450 BCE

This object has related works. See

Etruscan

Medium

bronze

Measurements

Overall: 28 cm (11 in.)

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund 1967.32

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The lump of lead beneath its feet probably once secured this figurine to a base.

Description

Striding forward with its left foot, this warrior likely once held a shield in the left hand and a spear or sword in the right. The statuette was acquired together with a miniature bronze sword with which it was said to have been found; a photograph taken around 1890 shows the warrior with the sword attached—probably wrongly—to the left hand. He wears an unusual helmet with two raised elements on top, and a simple v-neck cuirass or tunic with a lower border of dots and flaps. Many similarly posed bronze figurines have been found across central Italy, but scholars disagree as to whether they represent divine or mortal warriors.