Mold Depicting a Charioteer and an Archer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2023

Title: Mold depicting a charioteer and archer

Period: Maurya

Date: ca. 200 BCE

Culture: India, Pataliputra, Bihar

Medium: Black clay

Dimensions: H. 3/4 in. (1.9 cm); Diam. 3 in. (7.6 cm)

Classification: Ceramics

Credit Line: Lent by Bihar Museum, Patna

Object Number: TS.372

This small clay disc depicts a warrior unleashing an arrow while driven by a charioteer, perhaps a heraldic image of a Mauryan ruler in the Achaemenid tradition of warrior-kingship. It was excavated together with inscribed ring stones and probably also served as a jeweler’s mold for ear ornaments.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/819124