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Bronze
Ex collection:
Solid-cast
by the lost wax process. Carefully incised, polished and worked in the
cold. The edge of the base is decorated with a double parallel line and
the upper edge with regular notches; the eyebrows of the shepherd notched
more naturalistically, and his hair indicated by horizontal zigzag lines
is delimited at the nape by notches. The eyes of the shepherd and the lion
may have been inlaid.
Condition:
patina olive green partly incrusted with green chloride which has caused
slight damage, a little reddish earth and on the left side of the shepherd's
belt and buttock reddish cuprite with traces of iron. Missing: the right
forearm of the shepherd and the weapon, of which a small piece of the shaft
still protrudes from the back of the lion, the tip of his tail as well
as that of the dog. A fissure through the left leg of the man above the
ankle and his left forearm fractured at the wrist.
A votive offering,
recalling Homeric similes involving shepherds and attacking lions [1].
Peloponnesian
[2] and probably Laconian as is also the bronze
group found on Samos [3], a composition from the
same workshop[4].
The relationship
between Olympia, Laconia, Arcadia and Argos was very close in the Late
Geometric period and cross-influences obviously considerable. The earliest
of the three groups, the man and centaur
said to be from Olympia [5], is considered to be Laconian
on account of the similarity of the body of the centaur to Laconian horses
and most especially for its typical Laconian base.
There is an
affinity in spirit expressed in the subject matter, the confrontation between
man and beast, and in details such as the hollow eyes and the headdress
of the man, not to mention the general attitude, though the whole is both
sharper and more static than our group, being of earlier date.
To be noted
however, is its triple belt like the one on a nude warrior found in Olympia,
ascribed to Argos, of similar date around 750 B.C. [6],
like that of our shepherd. But our shepherd shows an affiliation with the
charioteer from Olympia in Berlin [7] and the
charioteers with parts of their chariots in Olympia [8],
now ascribed to Laconia [9], for the general shape
of the face (though the eyes differ), the hairline over the nape, the short
thighs and the ankles and feet. These last three would seem to be products
of a Laconian workshop active in Olympia.
Disturbing
however is what this author perceived to be an Argive-type of decoration
under the stand: a labyrinth made of the same rather deeply incised wide
flat lines as under the base of the Mare (cat. no. 76 n. 7). Of similar
execution and spirit of design is the swastika under the group found on
Samos [10]. The famous bronze seal from Mersin
[11] (Cilicia) with four swastikas underneath
is done in a similar though less angular fashion. Since artisans worked
in the same quarter, they must have taken over ideas from each other and
for the present ensemble and the lion group found on Samos the Argive-type
design surely adapted better to the shape of the base.
Notwithstanding
the Greek debt to myths, ideas and artistic prototypes from the East, to
be more precise in this case, the heroic struggle between man and beast,
the swastika motif, and the headdress of the shepherd, there is no doubt
that the lion groups are pure Peloponnesian products made in Olympia [12]:
a Laconian workshop probably produced the present group though the possibility
remains that an Argive [13] workshop may have
done so.
The centre
of our group is the terrifying lion with his jaws and fangs. Somewhat to
the side appears a shepherd [14] whose greater
height indicates his mastery of the situation as he tries to save the calf.
If we imagine the missing forearm and short sword, we have a more homogeneous
composition that reminds one of a semi-pyramidal construction as also in
the other lion group.
In spite of
a certain awkwardness, a masterly artistic and technical achievement for
the period.
On view: Musée
d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva: 1967-1968
Published:
Mentioned:
See: Langdon,
S.: Art, Religion, and Society in the Greek Geometric Period : Bronze
Anthropomorphic Votive Figurines (Diss. Indiana Univ. 1984), C190,
pp. 155, 321-322.
The author,
pressed for time, ascribed the group with considerable emphasis to Argos,
basing himself on outdated scholarship (B. Schweitzer et al.) and possibly
over-emphasizing the importance of the motif on the underside of the base.
We are grateful to Prof. W.-D. Heilmeyer for telling us verbally in June
1994 that the group is Laconian because fragments of unquestionably
Laconian horses belonging to very similar charioteers have been found in
Olympia (Heilmeyer, W.-D.: OB IX, 1994, p. 195 ff.).
1
Homer Iliad 11, 548-555; 12, 299-306; for further references
see Lonsdale, S.H.: Creatures of Speech. Lion, Herding, and Hunting
Similes in the Iliad (Stuttgart, 1990), part. p. 49 ff., 143. S. Lonsdale
wrote to us on 8 June 1994 "... such a bronze ... dateable to 725 corroborates
the impression that the Homeric epic tradition was describing realities
of contemporary concern to shepherds, etc. in order to emphasize the pastoral
theme of the epic."
2
Cl. Rolley (Les bronzes grecs, p. 58) endorsed this attribution, though
dating the group in the last quarter of the 8th century B.C.
3
Schweitzer, B.: Greek Geometric Art, fig. 186-187.
4
The figures of our shepherd and the shepherd or warrior of the Samos group
bear striking resemblance: hollow eyes, same mouths, originally same profiles,
similar build, etc. The lions' paws and claws are identical and the dogs
very similar. Though the compositions are somewhat different and placed
differently on the stands, both they and the designs underneath the bases
are similar. For the base of the group found on Samos, see Bol, P.-C.:
StädelJb
N.F. 10, 1985, p. 11 fig. 10.
5
New York, Metropolitan Museum 17.190.2072: Mertens, J.R.: Greek Bronzes
in the Metropolitan Museum, BMetrMus XLIII no. 2, Fall 1985, no. 7,
pp. 18-19.
6
Olympia Museum B 4600: Kunze, E.: OB VII, 1961, p. 145 ff., pl.
60-61.
7
Antikenmuseum Ol. 3680: Neugebauer, K.A.: Staatl. Museen zu Berlin.
Die minoischen und archaisch-griechischen Bronzen (Berlin, 1931), no.
15, pp. 12-13, pl. 4.
8
Olympia Museum B 1670: Kunze, E.: OB IV, 1940-41, pp. 110-111, ill.
91. Athens, National Museum 6190: Heilmeyer, W.-D.: OB X, 1981,
p. 68 (Br. 6507), pl. 3, 3+4.
9
See above for change in attribution. Formerly ascribed to Argos by Schweitzer,
B.: op. cit., p. 147.
10
See footnote 4.
11
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum 1892.1420: Boardman, J., Vollenweider, M.-L.:
Catalogue
of Engraved Gems and Finger Rings, I Greek and Etruscan, Ashmolean
Museum (Oxford, 1978), no. 3, p. 2, pl. 1. A Greek work, though ascribed
possibly to East Greece; it has led some also to attribute the two lion
groups to an East Greek workshop (since one of them was found on Samos).
12
Heilmeyer, W.-D.: OF XII, 1979, p. 54 ff.
13
D. Kent Hill (Gnomon 54, 6, 1982, p. 608) in her review article
stresses the historical dominance of the Laconian workshops between 776
and 740 B.C., with Argos recouping her original dominant position from
then on until 700 B.C.
14
J.N. Coldstream on a visit on 8 September 1993 suggested possibly an early
representation of Hermes, in his role as protector of the flocks and on
account of his pointed hat.
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