Figures P and Q (Centaur and Lapith youth), West pediment, Temple of Zeus, Olympia, miniature
- Title:
- Figures P and Q (Centaur and Lapith youth), West pediment, Temple of Zeus, Olympia, miniature
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Gipsformerei der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (reproduction)
Unknown (Pausanias attributes the West pediment to Alkamenes, possibly erroneously) (original)
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
470-456 BCE
2009 (image)
- Site:
- Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
Olympia, Greece (original) - Location:
- Goldwin Smith Hall, former Temple of Zeus space, Cornell University
previously, 726 University Avenue
Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
Olympia, Greece (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0652
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 132
F. 1833 (in red pencil on bottom)
649 - File Name:
- CCC_0652.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 205 (H) cm
- Culture:
- Greek
- Style/Period:
- Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
miniatures (object genre) - Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Centauromachy (Greek mythology)
Ancient Olympia (Greece) - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 21.5 x 15.5 x 6.8 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a restored, miniature, cast reproduction of a group of figures, P and Q, from the West pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, identified as a Centaur and a Lapith youth. On the viewer's right, the young Lapith has wrapped his right (proper) arm around the Centaur's neck. The Lapith kneels on his left knee with his right leg bent in front of him. He is nude except for a cloak that has slipped behind him and wraps under his left knee. At the viewer's left of the composition, the full-bearded Centaur kneels on his front horse legs, grabs the Lapith's right arm and hand with his human hands, and bites into the Lapith's forearm. Both figures are depicted in three-quarter view. In this cast, the Lapith's head has been broken away and glued back on, but the group is otherwise well preserved. Much of the original, full-sized statue group is preserved, but large fragments are missing from the figures' torsos and sections of their legs are also missing. The subject of the West pediment of the Temple of Zeus is a scene of battle between Lapiths and Centaurs at the wedding of Perithoos--king of the Lapiths and friend of Theseus--and Deidameia. Apollo watches over the chaotic scene, directing the action. This group was part of a complete set of restored miniature figures from the West pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia held in Cornell's cast collection. The West and East pediment miniature sets were sculpted by Richard Grüttner and produced by the Gipsformerei in Berlin, as the number (1833) marked at the base indicates. After an earthquake in the sixth c. CE toppled the temple, its broken elements were gradually covered and protected under several meters of alluvial deposits from the Alpheios and Kladeos rivers. Many figures and fragments from the Olympia pediments were uncovered by German excavators in the final quarter of the 19th c. Excavations at the site are ongoing. Pausanias' description of the temple pediments (5.10.2-10) sheds great light on the subjects of the pediments and both clarifies and confuses the placement of the figures in relation to each other. Various arrangements of figures have been proposed and scholarly debate on the topic continues.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
- Bibliography:
- Bernard Ashmole and Nicholas Yalouris, Olympia: The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London: Phaidon, 1967)
Hans-Volkmar Herrmann, ed., Die Olympia-Skulpturen. Wege der Forschung, Band 577 (Darmstadt, 1987)
Andrew Stewart, Greek Sculpture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 142-146, 253-254, figs. 262-276
John Boardman, Greek Sculpture: The Classical Period (London: Thames and Hudson, 1985), 33-50, figs. 18-23.6
Gipsformerei, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Katalog der Originalabgüsse, Heft 4, Griechenland und Rom: Freiplastik, no. 1833 - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Olympia, Archaeological Museum (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.