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  Highlights of the Collection: Prehistoric Terracottas
  Chariot group (AN1974.349) Back to previous page
 

Chariot GroupTerracotta model of a four-horse chariot with four occupants (one now broken off) arranged in pairs behind each other, as in a car. The horses, painted in alternate colours of red and black, are elaborately caparisoned with fringed trappings at the front. The three remaining occupants of the chariot have black beards and tall helmets with chin-straps. The two at the rear who stare straight ahead of them have rounded shields slung high on their backs. The remaining one at the front has no shield, and his head is turned slightly to one side.

Such chariot groups (often, like this one, partly made from moulds and partly modelled freehand) are quite commonly found at sanctuaries in the Cypro-Archaic period, along with female figurines [e.g. AN.C.267 (right)]and mounted warriors [e.g. AN1971.852 (left)]. The equipment and trappings visible on many of them have real-life counterparts in the horses and war chariots found in elaborate burials, such as those of the so-called Royal Tombs at Salamis.

 
 
   
  Other Details:
Cypro-Archaic, c. 700-600 BC. No provenance.
Vassos Karageorghis, The coroplastic art of ancient Cyprus, vol. IV, cat. no. II(iii)e.1.
   
  Related Objects:
 

Mounted Warrior

Female Figurine
  Mounted Warrior, AN1971.852 Female Figurine, AN.C.267
   
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