Cypriot Earthenware Figurine
Cypro-Geometric III (850–700BC). Height 17.3cm.
A figurine of a horse and rider, made of light buff clay with a matte light buff slip and decorated in black and red paint.The horse has taller hind legs, a long body, high neck and mane, a long flat nose, and conical ears, it is decorated with red triangles, black swastikas, hatched triangles and diamonds, and black strokes. The tail and parts of the mane are painted red, and the eyes black. The rider has a cylindrical body and headdress, with the hands placed below the horse’s ears.Traces of red and black decoration remain on the rider’s body, arms, and headdress.
The location and find date of the object is not recorded. It has been suggested that it may have come from Kastroulia.
The figurine was given as a gift by L.Z. Pierides to the Crown Prince of Sweden Gustaf Adolf in 1925 and later donated to the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. In 1982 it was part of a deposit to the Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden (Inv. No.: NM Ant 1743) joining objects from the SCE in the wider Cyprus collection.