Statuette of a Kouros (600–480 BCE): Art, History and Details

Statuette of a Kouros (600–480 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Though almost certainly Etruscan in origin, this small-scale bronze takes the form of a Greek kouros, a nude male youth with arms at sides looking straight ahead. The left foot appears ever so slightly advanced, but not enough to create any real sense of movement. Two long locks of hair fall over each shoulder, recalling Ionian (East Greek) examples, but the scale-like pattern on the back of the head is unusual. Despite the lack of nudity in most other Archaic Etruscan artworks, the kouros became quite popular as a small bronze votive type in Etruria.

Object facts

• Title: Statuette of a Kouros
• Date: 600–480 BCE
• Culture: Etruscan
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 8.8 cm (3 7/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Etruscan
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1971.264

A detail from the museum

Unlike Greek kouroi, which range in medium and scale, Etruscan kouroi are primarily small bronzes.

Collection credit

Sundry Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Annual Report for 1971.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 59, no. 6 (1972): 147–79.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.