Ancient Greece, Cyprus, Iron Age, ca. 850 to 750 BCE. A hand-built polychrome horse and rider group, with the rider seated sideways (an arched support behind him), and an applied bridle. The rider wears a crested/conical helmet, and nice remains of red and black paint adorn the horse's legs, neck, and the support behind the rider. A superb example of this iconic form of Cypriot visual culture delineated in an abstract style characteristic of the Cypro-Archaic period of Iron Age Cyprus. Size: 4.375" W x 4.125" H (11.1 cm x 10.5 cm)

Riding horses, in warfare or for transport, was the privilege of an elite society at this time. The prevalence of such horse and rider figurines suggests a great amount of strife in Cyprus during the Iron Age Horse and rider figurines were particularly suited as offerings to a male divinity, and numerous examples have been found in the sanctuary of Apollo at Kourion (from Ancient Art From Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Cf. Sarah P. Morris "Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art," Princeton University Press, 1995, p. 205 figs. 330-331 for related examples and pp. 205-210 for a discussion of this unusual side-saddle type.

Provenance: private London, United Kingdom collection formed in the 1970's; acquired at Bonham's, London, April 1999

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Losses to ears and tail. Expected surface wear, but nice remains of red and black pigment.