Cypriot Terracotta Chariot

Culture: Cypriot

Period: around 600 B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 17.7 cm x 20 cm

Price: 6 800 Euro

Ref: 2596

Provenance: English private collection, acquired in the 1960s. Thence Christie's auction London on 29 April 2010, lot 280. There acquired by a French collection. Last in a family estate. Accompanied by a French antiquities passport.

Condition: Repaired and mostly restored with its original pieces, including: parts of the plinth, the lower part of the wheels and the carriage, parts of the hind legs of the horses. The heads of the horses reattached. Both figures on the joining point to the chariot reattached. On the rear figure the arms are reattached.

Description: Large and particularly detailed worked out Cypriot terracotta chariot with three horses and two warriors on its original plinth. The horses in geometric style stand parallel with raised heads and round forelock. The mane is worked out in different styles, on the left horse it rests concavely on the neck, on the right horse it stands out semi-circularly. On the middle horse remains of the harness are recognizable at the back. On the buttock of the animals rests the drawback, which is connected to the cabin, where the two warriors stand back-to-back. Both wear conical helmets. The front figure is the charioteer. He has features worked out in detail, round ears and a long beard. His hands are tightly pressed in front of the chest to hold the reins. The rear figure faces to the back of the chariot. He also has a long beard, his nose is oversized. Eyes and ears are deeply depicted. He possibly is an archer. The chariot itself with two large wheels with a protruding drawback in the centre. See for the type the chariot with three warriors in the British Museum with the object number 1910, 0620.21, and for the depiction of the rear warrior the fragment in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the Accession Number 74.51.1801.