Bronze handle from a cista (toiletry box)

Unknown

4th century BCE · Bronze · Greek and Roman Art

These solid-cast handles depict a popular subject in Etruscan art, warriors carrying the body of a fallen comrade from the battlefield. In these two examples, all the figures are nude, but some handles show them wearing armor, and occasionally the carriers are given wings, indicating that they are the personifications of Sleep and Death.

Artist

Unknown

Date

4th century BCE

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Praenestine

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1909