Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

Orientalizing Art

During the 600sBCE, the pace and scope of Greek trade and colo-

nization accelerated and Greek artists became exposed more than

ever before to Eastern artworks,especially small portable objects

such as Syrian ivory carvings. The closer contact had a profound

effect on the development of Greek art. Indeed, so many motifs bor-

rowed from or inspired by Egyptian and Near Eastern art entered

the Greek pictorial vocabulary at this time that art historians have

dubbed the seventh centuryBCEthe Orientalizing period.

MANTIKLOS APOLLOOne of the masterworks of the early

seventh centuryBCEis the Mantiklos Apollo (FIG. 5-4), a small

bronze statuette dedicated to Apollo at Thebes by an otherwise un-

known man named Mantiklos. With characteristic pride in the abil-

ity to write, the sculptor (or another) scratched into the thighs of

the figure a message from the dedicator to the deity: “Mantiklos

dedicated me as a tithe to the far-shooting Lord of the Silver Bow;

you, Phoibos [Apollo], might give some pleasing favor in return.”

Because the Greeks conceived their gods in human form, it is uncer-

tain whether the figure represents the youthful Apollo or Mantiklos

(or neither). But if the left hand at one time held a bow, then the

statuette is certainly an image of the deity. In any case, the purpose

of the votive offering is clear. Equally apparent is the increased inter-

est Greek artists at this time had in reproducing details of human

anatomy, such as the long hair framing the unnaturally elongated

neck, and the pectoral and abdominal muscles, which define the

stylized triangular torso. The triangular face has eye sockets that

were once inlaid, and the head may have had a separately fashioned

helmet on it.

Geometric and Orientalizing Periods 103

5-3Hero and centaur (Herakles and Nessos?), from Olympia, Greece,

ca. 750–730 bce.Bronze, 4–^12 high. Metropolitan Museum of Art,

New York (gift of J. Pierpont).

Sculpture of the Geometric period is small scale, and the figures have

simple stylized shapes. This solid-cast bronze statuette depicts a hero

battling a centaur—an early example of mythological narrative.

5-4Mantiklos Apollo,statuette of a youth dedicated by Mantiklos to

Apollo, from Thebes, Greece, ca. 700–680 bce.Bronze, 8high. Museum

of Fine Arts, Boston.

Mantiklos dedicated this statuette to Apollo, and it probably represents

the god. The treatment of the body reveals the interest seventh-century

BCEGreek artists had in reproducing details of human anatomy.

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