Bronze
L: 9.55 cm. H: 5.8 cm
Provenance: no indication
Mainland Greece
c. 540 B.C.
Ex collection: F. Ephraim
Made as cat. no. 108.
Condition: patina dark olive green with greyish overtones. Surface smooth, the odd spot of cuprite, slight traces of earth here and there. Missing: part of the right horn and the lead filling.
Unfortunately we have no satisfying comparison for this goat and no grounds for ascribing him to a region or a school. We incline to feel that he is likely to belong to the Peloponnese and possibly to Sparta, if C. Stibbe is right in characterizing the vertical strokes over the forehead and for the goatee as Laconian features. If this be so, however, a certain lack of precision in these details, in the way they are incised, might suggest an imitation of a Spartan type made elsewhere. The author admits that all this is hypothetical.
