Tripod Base (100–1 BCE): Art, History and Details

Tripod Base (100–1 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This unusual tripod base features three clawed feet, an abundance of vegetal ornament, and three different figural scenes in low relief. Two seem to show sanctuary settings: first, a small Archaistic statue of Athena flanked by a woman with small offerings and a man holding a kid and leading two goats; and second, a small youthful male statue behind two beardless figures—perhaps Apollo, with a stag, and Dionysos, holding a thyrsos. The third scene shows Herakles, holding a club while leading a woman, maybe Auge or Alcestis. Although perhaps similarly eclectic in style, the base and the sculpture it now supports differ in their alloys and patinas.

Object facts

• Title: Tripod Base
• Date: 100–1 BCE
• Culture: Italy, Roman
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 77 x 32.3 x 28 cm (30 5/16 x 12 11/16 x 11 in.)
• Collection: GR - Roman
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1995.10

A detail from the museum

This elaborate base may have originally supported an ornate lamp (not the statuette now displayed atop it).

Collection credit

Given in honor of Arthur Fleischman by his parents, Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman

Further reading listed by the museum

• J. Paul Getty Museum, and Cleveland Museum of Art. A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman. Malibu, Calif: J. Paul Getty Museum in association with the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1994.

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.