Plaque of Horse and Rider in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2011

Plaque depicting a horse and rider

Period: Neo-Assyrian

Date: ca. 883–859 B.C.

Geography: Mesopotamia

Culture: Assyrian

Medium: Bronze, traces of gold overlay

Dimensions: 0.51 x 4.59 in. (1.3 x 11.66 cm)

Classification: Metalwork-Relief

Credit Line: Purchase, Nathaniel Spear Jr. Gift, 1988

Accession Number: 1988.80

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/3000...

The holes indicate that this plaque was attached to another object, but its function eludes us. Represented is an unarmed male dressed in animal skins, who holds one horse by the mane and another by a cord in his left hand (only the head of the second horse can be seen.)

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.