Detail of a Bronze Handle from a Shallow Basin in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2010

Bronze handle of a shallow basin

Period: Late Classical

Date: 4th century B.C.

Culture: Greek

Medium: Bronze

Dimensions: length 7 3/8in. (18.7cm)

Classification: Bronzes

Credit Line: The Bothmer Purchase Fund, 1978

Accession Number: 1978.11.18

Description:

The attachments at each end of the handle depict Nereids riding hippocamps (sea horses) and bringing a shield and a cuirass (body armor) to Achilles. Because the mythological reference is to the sea, the vase to which the handle belonged may have contained water—a podanypter (foot basin), for example.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1300...