This is special little bronze (H. 7.1 cm): a very early and spatially sophisticated representation of a seated man.
It hails from the Geometric period in Greece (mid-8th century B.C.), likely from a Peloponnesian workshop, and has been with the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore since the 1920’s. Although at first glance it is simple and geometric in form, this is no experimental attempt on the part of the artist. It’s is a fully-fledged, well-thought out mastery of a three dimensional subject.
Every view-point is perfectly composed, and reveals something new. And while the anatomical features are pared down to the point of abstraction with those wonderful tubular limbs, the subject is instantly recognisable. What is not immediately recognisable is that object he holds up to his face, and it has alternately been described as a drinking vessel, musical instrument, or a blossom of some sort.
We will never know. But there is something wonderfully modern about how he perches on a stool, captured in a moment of repose, resting his elbows on his knees.
