metope

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Object Type: metope
Museum number: 1816,0610.4
Title: Series: The Parthenon Sculptures
Description: Marble metope from the Parthenon (South metope V). The South metopes in the British Museum show the battle between Centaurs and Lapiths at the marriage-feast of Peirithoos. A Centaur is rearing up to the right. A chlamys fastened round his neck falls over his left upper arm and flies out behind his back. He was fighting a Lapith, now lost except for his right wrist attached to the Centaur’s throat. The complete figure of the Lapith was drawn by Carrey in 1674. In the original composition, the Centaur grasped the Lapith’s right thigh between his forelegs, extending his left arm towards him, while the Lapith, with extended right arm tried to ward him off. A part of the Centaur’s head is in the Museum of the University of Würzburg, Würzburg.
Producer name: Designed by: Pheidias
Cultures/periods: Classical Greek
Production date: 447BC-438BC
Production place: Made in: Athens
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Parthenon
Materials: marble
Dimensions: Thickness: 136 centimetres
Bibliographic references: Sculpture / Catalogue of Greek Sculpture in the British Museum (308); Smith 1892 / A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum (pp.135-136); Smith 1910 / The sculptures of the Parthenon (p.30, pl.18 (fig.1)); Brommer 1967 / Die Metopen des Parthenon (pp.83-84, pl.178-180); Berger 1986 / Der Parthenon in Basel; Dokumentation zu den Metopen (p.85, pl.73, 84-85); Choremi-Spetsieri 2004 / The Sculptures of the Parthenon: Acropolis, British Museum, Louvre (p.56, fig.28-29)
Location: On display (G18)
Subjects: centaur; centauromachy; lapith
Associated objects: cast (CRM.1217); mould (CRM.1220)
Acquisition name: Purchased from: Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin
Acquisition date: 1816
Department: Greek and Roman
Registration number: 1816,0610.4
Additional IDs: Miscellaneous number: South Metope V

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