Further images
Repoussé relief showing Nike leaning nonchalantly on a short
column with her left elbow, her left knee bent forwards, thick
drapery fluttering in the wind and revealing her womanly
figure, large wings resting at her sides with feathered
detailing. Nike’s wavy hair is tied into a bun and held in place
with a wreath. Her sandalled feet resting on the rocky ground.
Some consolidation and a few small areas filled and touched
in. Accompanying this fragment are a pair of solid cast, finely
modelled, upturned fluted handles with attachment rosettes
decorated with waterleaf patterns.
Most bronze hydriai of the 4th century BC have relief
decoration under the vertical handle, of which type the present
appliqué is a particularly fine example.
Nike is the Greek goddess of victory, her wreath would crown the victorious.
Provenance
Acanthus Gallery, New York, USA
Howard Barnet Sr (1924-1922) and Saretta Barnet
(1927-2017), New York, USA acquired from the
above 13th February 1987
Saretta Barnet Revocable Trust, New York, USA
Literature
Compare an example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, USA, accession number 44.11.9
For the handles compare Mary Comstock and Cornelius
Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan & Roman Bronzes in the
Museum of Fine Arts Boston (Boston, 1971), no.427
