Bronze handles from a large volute-krater (vase for mixing wine and water)
Unknown Artist
The handles have the distinctive shape associated with a type of krater made in Vulci and exported to Etruscan settlements as far away as Spina in Northern Italy. The youths wearing winged boots and holding the bridles of their horses are almost certainly the twin gods, Castur and Pultuce (Roman: Castor and Pollux), the sons of Zeus; the two are known in Etruscan as Tinas Cliniar. These are the largest and most elaborate handles of this type now extant.
Credit: Fletcher Fund, 1961
Ca. 500–475 B.C.
Bronze
22.9 x 22.9 cm
61.11.4a, b
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection
