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metope
Object Type
metope
Museum number
1816,0610.6
Title
Series:
The Parthenon Sculptures
Description
Marble metope from the Parthenon (South metope VII). The South metopes in The British Museum show the battle between Centaurs and Lapiths at the marriage-feast of Peirithoos. With his left hand a Lapith, on the left, grasps a Centaur. His right arm is drawn back and he probably once held a metal sword, now lost, in his hand, about to strike the Centaur. A chlamys fastened on his right shoulder falls over his left arm and flies out behind his back. The Centaur, rearing up, tries to pull away the Lapith’s left hand. From the shoulders of the Centaur hangs a small chlamys. The head of the Centaur is in the Acropolis Museum, Athens, and the Lapith’s head is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. The Lapith’s hands, left foot and the right leg below the knee are missing. As are the Centaur’s left arm below the shoulder and part of his left hind leg and parts of the frame.
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:
137 centimetres
Bibliographic references
Sculpture / Catalogue of Greek Sculpture in the British Museum
(310)
Smith 1892 / A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum
(pp.136-137)
Smith 1910 / The sculptures of the Parthenon
(p.30, pl.19 (fig.1))
Brommer 1967 / Die Metopen des Parthenon
(pp.86-87, pl.185-189)
Berger 1986 / Der Parthenon in Basel; Dokumentation zu den Metopen
(pp.86-87, pl.88-89)
Choremi-Spetsieri 2004 / The Sculptures of the Parthenon: Acropolis, British Museum, Louvre
(p.60, fig.32-34)
Location
On display
(G18)
Subjects
centaur
centauromachy
lapith
Acquisition name
Purchased from:
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin
Acquisition date
1816
Department
Greek and Roman
Registration number
1816,0610.6
Additional IDs
Miscellaneous number:
South Metope VII