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Statuette of a deer nursing her fawn
Greek
Geometric Period
750–700 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Bronze
Dimensions
Height: 7.2 cm (2 13/16 in.); depth: 4.2 cm (1 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number98.650
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
This group sculpture of a deer nursing a fawn while a bird perches on her rump is unusually ambitious among the small bronzes that survive from the Geometric period, which are typically single-figure compositions. This one was found by 1898 in a sanctuary near Thebes, where it must have been left as a votive offering. While celebrating the fecundity and beneficence of nature, it projects the mother-child bonding that is central to human life into the animal world.
The artist has combined spontaneous naturalism with a fondness for geometric forms. Standing on a rectangular base plate, the adult deer's long slender legs and powerful haunches support a cylindrical body and an elongated egg-shaped head. Although female, the deer has conspicuous antlers, whose placement far back on the head has pushed the projecting ears halfway down the neck. Sets of concentric circles form her large eyes, and additional circles are neatly punched over her shoulders and haunches as if to suggest a spotted coat; still more adorn her antlers as pure decoration. The fawn, standing on wide-set legs at a diagonal below its mother, raises its flaring muzzle to suckle vigorously.
The artist has combined spontaneous naturalism with a fondness for geometric forms. Standing on a rectangular base plate, the adult deer's long slender legs and powerful haunches support a cylindrical body and an elongated egg-shaped head. Although female, the deer has conspicuous antlers, whose placement far back on the head has pushed the projecting ears halfway down the neck. Sets of concentric circles form her large eyes, and additional circles are neatly punched over her shoulders and haunches as if to suggest a spotted coat; still more adorn her antlers as pure decoration. The fawn, standing on wide-set legs at a diagonal below its mother, raises its flaring muzzle to suckle vigorously.
Catalogue Raisonné
Greek, Etruscan, & Roman Bronzes (MFA), no. 003; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 117 (additional published references); Highlights: Classical Art (MFA), p. 150.
DescriptionThis small bronze statue depicts an intimate moment of a deer nursing her fawn. Both animals are represented with reduced forms, particularly noticeable in their long slender legs and extended snouts. The deer is decorated with a series of stamped concentric circles on her haunches, front legs, and antlers. The same circles also stand in for her eyes. A bird perches on the rump of the deer, facing towards the left. The underside of the base on which the deer and her fawn stand is decorated with a meander pattern.
ProvenanceSaid to have been found at the Kabirion, Thebes [see note 1]. By 1898, Edward Perry Warren (b. 1860 - d. 1928), Rome and London; 1898, sold by Warren to the MFA for $69,618.13. (Accession Date: September 20, 1898)
NOTES:
[1] According to Warren's notes. [2] This figure is the total price for MFA accession nos. 98.641-98.940.
NOTES:
[1] According to Warren's notes. [2] This figure is the total price for MFA accession nos. 98.641-98.940.