Chatsworth Head
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| The Chatsworth Head |
| c.460 BC |
| Cast bronze, height 31.6 cm |
| London, British Museum |
The Chatsworth Head is a slightly over life-size bronze head dating to around 460 BC. It was originally part of a complete statue, probably (judging by the shoulder-length curly hair) one of Apollo, made up of separately cast sections (eg head, arms, legs, some of the locks of hair) joined into one whole - a leg from the same sculpture is in the Louvre. Its eyes probably originally held glass, marble or ivory inlays, which were held in with surviving bronze plates, which curl outwards to form eyelashes. Its lips seem to have been plated with reddish copper to imitate their natural colour.
It was found near Tamassos on Cyprus in 1836 and was acquired by the 6th Duke of Devonshire at Smyrna from H.P. Borrell in 1838. He and his successors kept it at their residence of Chatsworth House, from which it takes its name. It was loaned to the Fitzwilliam Museum in the mid-1930s, and was acquired from the 11th Duke by the British Museum in 1958. It has the British Museum catalogue reference 1958 0418 1 and is on show there, in Room 15.
[edit] Sources
- British Museum
- A. J. B. Wace, 'The Chatsworth Head', The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 58, Part 1 (1938), pp. 90-95
- D.E.L. Haynes, The technique of Greek Bronze (Mainz am Rhein, 1992)
- C.C. Mattusch, Greek Bronze statuary (Cornell University Press, 1988)
- L. Burn, The British Museum book of G-1, revised edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)
