Bronze strainer with openwork handle

Unknown

5th century BCE · Bronze · Greek and Roman Art

This is one of the most elaborate and best-preserved Etruscan strainer handles. The artist has skillfully presented a complex subject on a very small scale in the openwork square just below the handle's attachment point. Two nude boxers appear to have just finished a bout in which one man has been knocked to his knees. Their trainer or referee holds his arms up to indicate the end of the round. On the underside of the attachment point is a delicately modeled doe lying on a wave-crest border. The handle's base depicts a bearded male figure with fish-like legs that terminate in bearded snake heads. The strange legs form a perfect circular opening that allowed the patera to be hung when not in use. The sea monster, almost like a merman, may have been intended to ward off evil.

Artist

Unknown

Date

5th century BCE

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Etruscan

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1912