The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 3, 2023

Boxer

100–30 BC

Greece, Greco-Roman Period, late Ptolemaic Dynasty

Bronze. solid cast, with copper inlays

Overall: 21 x 11 cm (8 1/4 x 4 5/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1985.137

Location

102C Greek

Fun Fact

The long topknot (<em>cirrus</em>) identifies this athlete as a hand-to-hand fighter, most likely a boxer.

Description

This boxer raises his arms to pull tight the thongs (now lost) that Greek and Roman boxers wound around their hands for protection. The sinuous body curve and long proportions are characteristic of the late Hellenistic period, when artists created more elongated versions of athletes and other classical figures.

Provenance
Giovanni Dattari
Arthur Sambon
M. Heugel
Probably Alexandria. Formerly in the collections of Giovanni Dattari and Arthur Sambon; Dattari Sale, p. 50, no. 433, pls. LII-LIII; sale: Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 25-28 May 1914, Collection Arthur Sambon, p. 19, no. 61, illus.
Citations
Hôtel Drouot. Antiquités Égyptiennes Grecques et Romaines Vente à Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Salles Nos 9 et 10 le Lundi 17, Mardi 18 et Mercredi 19 Juin 1912 à Deux Heures Precises. Paris: Hôtel Drouot, 1912. Mentioned: p. 50, no 433; Reproduced: plates 52-3 ia802601.us.archive.org
Galerie Georges Petit, F. Lair-Dubreuil, Jacob Hirsch, Meyer-Riefstahl, and Jules Féral. Catalogue des objets d'art et de haute curiosité, de l'antiquité, du moyen âge, de la renaissance, et autres, faïences italiennes, terres émaillées des Robbia, porcelaines de Saxe, ivoires, objets variés, bijoux, bois sculptés, marbres, pierres, terres cuites, bronzes italiens, sculptures égyptiennes et grecques en marbre, terres cuites et bronzes grecs et romains, faïences orientales, importante série de Rhagès, manuscrits persans, sculptures et peintures chinoises, bronze de Mossoul, tableaux anciens des écoles primitives, de la renaissance et du XVIIIe siècle, œuvres de H. Met de Bles, Pater, etc., pastels par J.B. Liotard: formant la collection de M. Arthur Sambon. 1914. Mentioned: p. 21 no. 61; Reproduced: p. 19-20 archive.org
Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1985." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (1986): 26-71. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159930. Mentioned: p. 62; Reproduced: p. 38 www.jstor.org
Kozloff, Arielle P., David Gordon Mitten, and Suzannah Fabing. The Gods Delight: The Human Figure in Classical Bronze. Cleveland, Ohio: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1988. Mentioned: p. 147-50; Reproduced: p. 148-9
Kozloff, Arielle P. Classical Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection, The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Museum, 1989. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 15 fig. 29
Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 476-7
Herrmann, John J., and Christine Kondoleon. Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete and the Olympic Spirit. Boston, Mass: MFA Publications, a division of the Museum of Fine Arts, 2004. Mentioned: p. 178; Reproduced: p. 102, no. 67
Exhibition history

CMA/Los Angeles/Boston 1988-89, pp. 147-50, no. 24 (entry by Marion True)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (7/20/2004 - 11/28/2004): "Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete"

Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (organizer) (July 20-November 28, 2004).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.137