Detail of an Etruscan Bronze Statuette of a Solar Deity in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2011

Bronze statuette of a solar deity

Period: Hellenistic

Date: 3rd–2nd century B.C.

Culture: Etruscan

Medium: Bronze Dimensions: H.: 9 13/16 in. (24.9 cm)

Classification: Bronzes

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1916

Accession Number: 16.174.5

Description:

The idealized features and seminudity of this carefully executed bronze statuette suggest that he represents a deity. The radiant crown indicates a solar deity, perhaps Apollo or Helios (called by the Etruscans Apulu and Usil). The object in his left hand may be an incense box. Perhaps his missing right hand once held a patera (libation bowl) resembling that held by the larger male figure (16.174.4) on this shelf.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1300...