The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Sleep and Death Cista Handle

400–375 BCE

Etruscan

bronze
with base: 18.5 x 18.3 cm (7 5/16 x 7 3/16 in.); without base: 14 x 17.4 cm (5 1/2 x 6 7/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1945.13
Location: 102D Pre-Roman

Did You Know?

These three figures were cast in eight separate pieces, then welded together and attached to the rectangular base.

Description

Designed for attachment to the lid of a large bronze cista, a cylindrical lidded box, these three figures probably represent Sleep (Hypnos) and Death (Thanatos) holding the body of Sarpedon. A son of Zeus who helped to defend Troy from invading Greek forces, "godlike Sarpedon of the brazen helmet" fell at the hands of Patroclus, as told by Homer in Book XVI of the Iliad. Apollo then intervened to protect the body, removing it from danger and entrusting it to the two winged deities, as depicted here and in a number of other ancient artworks, Greek and Etruscan alike. If not Sarpedon, the fallen warrior could be Memnon, the son of Eos and Tithonos slain by Achilles.
  • ?-1935
    Cortlandt F. Bishop (1870-1935)
    1935-1935
    [American Art Association, Cortlandt F. Bishop Sale 11/22/1935]
    1935-1945
    Brummer Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1945-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Castellani, Alessandro, and Paul Leroi. Catalogue des Objets d'Art Antiques du Moyen-âge et de la Renaissance Dépendant de la Succession Alessandro Castellani. [By Paul Leroi]. Paris, 1884. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 47, No. 282, pl. VIII. babel.hathitrust.org
    British Museum, and H. B. Walters. Catalogue of the Bronzes, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan, in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum. London: Printed by order of the Trustees, 1899. Mentioned: nos. 555, 642, 643, 645, 748
    Furtwängler, Adolf. Die Antiken Gemmen; Geschichte der Steinschneidekunst im Klassischen Altertum. Leipzig: Gesecke & Devrient, 1900. Mentioned: Vol. II, p. 77, pl. XVI, no. 22; p. 83, pl. XVII, 23
    Lowy, Emanuel. "Fur Aithiopis," Neue Jahrbucher fiir das klassische Altertum Geschichte und Deutsche Literatur und fur Paedagogik 33 (1914): 81-94. Mentioned: p. 82 archive.org
    Lamb, Winifred. Greek and Roman Bronzes. London: Methuen, 1929. Mentioned: p. 188-194
    Lukomskiĭ, G. K. Art Étrusque, Étude Illustrée Sur La Peinture Murale de Corneto-Tarquinia Suive, à Titre Comparatif, d’Un Choix d’Œuvres Caractéristiques Des Principaux Musées d’Europe. Paris: Éditions Ducharte, 1930. Reproduced: pls. 75, 76
    Levi, Doro. "L'Arte Etrusca e Il Ritratto." Dedalo Vol. 13 (April 1933): 193-228.
    The Brummer Gallery Records. Cloisters (Museum), n.d. N3599 libmma.contentdm.oclc.org
    Wunderlich, Silvia A. “A Bronze Cista Handle.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 32, no. 4 (April 1945): 39–46. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 39-46 www.jstor.org
    Detroit Institute of Arts. An Exhibition of Small Bronzes of the Ancient World. [DETROIT, MICHIGAN]: [DETROIT Institute OF ARTS], 1947. Mentioned: p. 9, no. 48; reproduced: p. 26
    “Art and Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Archaeology 6, no. 4 (December 1953): 195–202. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 197 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 18 archive.org
    Carter, Martha L. Classical Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 16 archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E. "The Art Museum and Antiquity." Apollo vol. LXXVIII no. 22 (December 1963): 435-446. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 440-441, fig. 6
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 22 archive.org
    Schefold, Karl, and Ludwig Berger. Die Griechen Und Ihre Nachbarn. Berlin: Propyläen Verlag, 1967. Mentioned: p. 325, no. 417; Reproduced: pl. 417
    National Gallery of Canada, and Expo (International Exhibitions Bureau). Terre Des Hommes: Exposition Internationale Des Beaux-Arts, 28 Avril-27 Octobre 1967 = Man and His World, International Fine Arts Exhibition, Expo 67, Montreal, Canada, 28 April-27 October 1967. [Montréal]: [Expo 67], 1967. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 304-305, no. 144
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland],1967. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 11
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 22 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 26 archive.org
    Holloway, Ross R. "Figure corazzate ed alate nell'Italia preromana." In Miscellanea di studi classici in onore di Eugenio Manni, 1939-1944. Rome: Giorgio Bretschneider, 1979. pp. 1939-1944, pl. IV, Fig. 4-5.
    Bothmer, D. von. "The Death of Sarpedon." In The Greek Vase: Papers Based on Lectures Presented to a Symposium Held at Hudson Valley Community College at Troy, New York in April of 1979. Stephen L. Hyatt, Ed., 63-80. Latham, N.Y.: The Association, 1981. Menytioned: p. 78; Reproduced: fig. 84
    Kozloff, Arielle P., David Gordon Mitten, and Suzannah Fabing. The Gods Delight: The Human Figure in Classical Bronze. Cleveland, Ohio: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1988. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 244-249, no. 45
    Kozloff, Arielle P. "Bronzenstatuetten der Antke." Kunst und Antiquitaten (January 1989): 30-33. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 32, fig. 5
    Kozloff, Arielle P. Classical Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection, the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Museum, 1989. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 10, fig. 19
    “Calendar.” The Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1032 (March 1989): 248–252. Reproduced: p. 251, no. 84 www.jstor.org
    Young, Mahonri Sharp. “Letter from the U.S.A.: By the Tyrrhenian Sea.” Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors 129 (January 1989):57-59. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 58, fig. 4
    Tassel, Janet. "Mighty Midgets." Harvard Magazine 91, no. 5 (May-June 1989): 28-35. Reproduced: p. 33
    Kozloff, Arielle P. "La Figure Humaine dans les Bronzes Antiques." Archeologia 248 (July-August 1989): 54-61. Reproduced: p. 60
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 8 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Interpretations: Sixty-Five Works from the Cleveland Museum of Art. 1991. Mentioned and reproduced: No. 4
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Masterpieces from East and West. New York, NY: Rizzoli International, 1992. p. 20
    Bothmer, Dietrich von. "Sarpedon," in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), vol. VII, pt. 1. Zürich: Artemis, 1994. Mentioned: p. 696-700, no. 15.
    Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 23
    Murphy, Darlene W. The Praenestine Cistae Handles. Dettelbach: Röll, 2001. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 5, 131-132, no. 5001, p. 205, pl. 35
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 17, no. 13
    Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 33
    Cleveland Museum of Art, David Franklin, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 36-37
    Waterfield, Robin, and Kathryn Waterfield. The Greek Myths: Stories of the Greek Gods and Heroes Vividly Retold. London: Quercus, 2013. Mentioned: p. 226
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 84-85
    Tortora, Phyllis G., and Sara B. Marcketti. Survey of Historic Costume. 2016. . Reproduced: p. 44, fig. 4.3
    Spivey, Nigel Jonathan. The Sarpedon Krater: The Life and Afterlife of a Greek Vase. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2019. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 173-174, fig. 51
    Pevnick, Seth. “Four Curators, Four Favorites.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 62, no. 2 (2022): 28. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 28. archive.org
  • Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    The Gods Delight: The Human Figure in Classical Bronze. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Nov. 16, 1988-Jan. 8, 1989); The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Feb. 9 - April 9, 1989); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (May 9-July 9, 1989).
    Man and His World. International Fine Arts Exhibition, Expo '67, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (April 28 - October 27, 1967).
    Man and His World. Expo 67, Montreal, Canada (organizer) (April 27-October 28, 1967).
    Survey of Italian Art. Seattle Art Museum (November 8 - December 8, 1957).
    An Exhibition of Small Bronzes of the Ancience World. The Detroit Institute of Arts (March 23-May 23, 1947)
  • {{cite web|title=Sleep and Death Cista Handle|url=false|author=|year=400–375 BCE|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.13