Wrestler
Terracotta. Ca. 1st century CE.Height 6.8 cm. Private collection, Amsterdam
Wrestler.
Terracotta. Ca. 1st century CE.
Height 6.8 cm.
Height 6.8 cm.
Private collection, Amsterdam.
Origin:
Unknown; probably Asia Minor.
Description:
The arms and legs are broken, but the position of the body indicates that the man was leaning forward. This attitude and the tuft of hair at the back of the head are the marks of a professional wrestler. He is ready to attack and about to seize his opponent with both hands. The torso is bare. He is wearing a loin cloth which reaches almost to his chest.
The artist has paid great attention to the modelling of the furrowed face with its outsized nose. Works of this type bear the mark of terracottas from Asia Minor, for example Smyrna.
R. A. L. S.
Literature:
H. C. van Gulik, Catalogue of the Bronzes in the Allard Pierson Museum at Amsterdam (Amsterdam, 1940) no. 12. H. Hoffmann, Ten Centuries that shaped the West. Greek and Roman Art in Texas Collections (1971) no. 101. J. Desanges, in: J. Vercouter e.a., L’image du noir dans l’art occidental I (1976) p. 260, ill. 362.
Credits:
© 1993. Photo, text: Olympism in antiquity. Olympic Museum Lausanne. Bertelsmann UFA. Industria Gráfica S. A. Barcelona, 1993, p. 113 cat. no. 56.
© 1993 — Comité International Olympique.
© 1993 — Comité International Olympique.
