Fragmentary Marble Stele of a Youth in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2022

Title: Fragment of the marble stele (grave marker) of a youth

Period: Archaic

Date: ca. 530 BCE

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Marble, Hymettian

Dimensions: H. preserved 48 in. (121.9 cm)

Classification: Stone Sculpture

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1912

Accession Number: 12.158

Instead of representing specific individuals, Archaic Greek funerary monuments depict idealized figures. Even attributes that might relate to aspects of a deceased person’s life contribute to creating a heroic version of them. Athletic equipment or weapons and armor—colorfully accented, as seen in the adjacent reconstruction of the stele of Aristion—allude to victory in battle or competition. The nude youth holding a spear on this grave marker could represent either a warrior or an athlete, both of which reflect the aristocratic ideals of the family who erected the monument. An inscription on the upper or lower part of the stele, no longer preserved, once revealed the identity of the deceased.

A nude image of the deceased youth projects in high relief from the concave, red background. He stands erect, left foot forward, in the same position as the nearby three-dimensional statue of a kouros (youth). The stele is carved in a marble with gray striations that was quarried at Mount Hymettos, just outside of Athens.

Two more fragments of this stele have recently been identified in Athens - one with the left hand, the other with the chest and upper arm. Plaster casts of the two pieces (Agora S1751 and NM 4.808) are juxtaposed with the Metropolitan Museum's stele in the adjacent photograph.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248643