Archaic II
Limestone snake-charmer
The male figure holds a snake in each hand, while three additional snakes are placed on his head; their heads are aligned above the fillet around his brow, and the rest of their bodies hand down his back. Snake-charmers are quite well attested on Cyprus; one family even specialized in treating victims of snakebite. WebPub GR 2012 Cesnola: 16 1/4 × 6 × 3 3/4 in., 6 lb. (41.3 × 15.2 × 9.5 cm, 2.7 kg)
Date
600 - 550 BC
Accession No.
74.51.2529
Collection
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Provenance
- Found “in the ruins of Amathus”
References
- Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1885. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 1. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 1022, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Sophocleous, Sophocles. 1985. ""Atlas des représentations chypro-archaiques des divinités." Master's Diss.." Master's Diss. no. 2, p. 75, pl. XVI.5. Paul Aströms Förlag.Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 195, p. 131, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Karageorghis, Vassos. 2006. Aspects of Everyday Life in Cyprus: Iconographic Representations. no. 147, pp. 164-5, Nicosia: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.Karageorghis, Vassos. 2007. "Snake Charmers" From Cyprus." "Up to the Gates of Ekron" Essays on the Archaeology and History of the Eastern Mediterranean in Honor of Seymour Gitin. p. 478, Jerusalem: W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research.Hermary, Antoine and Joan R. Mertens. 2013. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Stone Sculpture. no. 275, p. 213, Online Publication, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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