Journal - Comune di Monteleone di Spoleto

V. CaTaloGue oF THe PieCeS oF THe monTeleone CHarioT
in this catalogue each piece of the disassembled chariot has
its own entry. The exceptions are the side panels with their
respective kouroi, because they were not separated during
the recent restoration. The state of conservation described
in the condition sections refers to the condition after the
recent restoration. The description of each piece is detailed
because the objects had not been described since they were
published by Furtwängler in 1905 and 1913 and richter in
1915 (no. 40). When not otherwise specified, the object is
made from bronze sheets.
Central panel
1a. Central panel (Figures V.1 – V.9)
H. 32 1⁄2 in. (82.5 cm); perimeter at base 28 in. (71 cm);
H. of relief: helmet 1 3⁄8 in. (3.5 cm), shield 2 in. (5 cm), head
of woman 1 1⁄8 in. (3 cm), head of man 1 1⁄4 in. (3.2 cm);
thickness of sheet .1 cm
Description. Curved at the top and straight at the bottom,
the panel revetted the front of the chariot car. The top of the
panel is articulated with convex and concave moldings that
continue along the sides. The figures in high relief are finished
with tracing. a woman clad in a chiton and cloak
hands a shield and helmet to a warrior facing her. The latter
wears greaves and takes hold of the two pieces of armor
occupying the center of the scene. no cuirass is depicted.
a dying deer below the shield is positioned so that its arched
back follows the contours of the boar protome that marks
the point where the pole projects in front of the car of the
chariot. Two birds of prey swooping down fill the space on
either side of the warrior’s helmet crest.
The woman stands on the ground, one foot behind the
other; she faces right, the helmet in her left hand, the shield
in the long, extended fingers of her right. a fringe of spiral
curls, embossed and finished with tracing, escapes from the
cloak covering her head. Her long garment does not cover
her bare feet. Her fingernails and toenails are well defined
by incisions, as are her finger joints. Her eyelashes and eyebrows
are finished with faint tracing. Her eye was originally
inlaid with another material inserted into a specially made
cavity. The woman’s only jewel is a chain necklace adorned
with lotus-bud and palmette pendants. Her long-sleeved,
clinging chiton flares at the bottom and is decorated with
traced ornaments as follows: a checkerboard and hourglass
pattern between dotted double lines at the collar, an hourglass
pattern along the gathered seam of the sleeve and
around the cuff, and a large rosette with lotus buds and
palmettes surrounding a small central disk on her prominent
breast. at the lower edge of her garment is a chain of
pendant lotus flowers and buds between double-outlined
rows of dots; a row of double-outlined diagonal bars runs
around the hem. a band outlined by rows of dots and patterned
with squares inside a cross meander, one hatched
and the other void, runs down the chiton’s side seam; the
four squares are filled with different patterns: concentric
squares, a checkerboard, a quatrefoil with tongues in the
interstices, and an eight-pointed star with palmettes. at the
sides of the band, in the spaces not occupied by the cloak,
there are two large patterns; the one at the front has a
stopped meander, the one at the back an eight-pointed star
with encircled palmettes. The clinging cloak is draped over
the woman’s forearm, its corner held down by a triple dropshaped
weight. The background of the cloak is studded with
dot rosettes. The vertical borders are decorated with a dotted
meander with checkerboard squares, while the lower
border has a single checkerboard square at the beginning of
a complicated meander filled with dots. The lining of the
cloak visible in the part draped over the woman’s arm has a
hatched meander border.
The warrior receiving the armor is depicted in profile
facing the woman, his right foot in front of his left. His outstretched
hands mirror those of the woman: he grasps the
shield with his left hand and the nosepiece of the helmet
with his right. His long hair is finished with serried traced
lines and consists of four full locks that seem to originate at
the center of his forehead, pass behind his ear, and hang
down to his shoulder, where each lock ends in a large spiral
curl. His eyelashes, eyebrows, moustache, and pointed
beard are finished with fine incisions. His eye was originally
inlaid with another material inserted within a specially
made cavity. His fingernails and toenails are well defined,
as are his finger joints. The warrior’s short chiton is belted at
the waist, and the background is studded with the same dot
rosettes as the woman’s cloak; the knot of the belt falls on
the right. The collar trim looks like fabric interlaced with a
ribbon. Two hatched strips arranged in a herringbone pattern
run along the sleeve seam; a band of alternating vertical
and horizontal hourglasses runs along the seam and
hem of the sleeve; on the left sleeve the hourglasses are
filled with dots, while on the right one they are all vertical
and void. an ornate herringbone border divided by rows of
dots and ending in a pendant palmette runs down the side
of the chiton. The hem has a stopped and dotted meander
border. The greaves are decorated with an inverted palmette
on the knee and edged with a row of dotted rectangles.
The Boeotian-type shield is richly embellished. a running
spiral pattern along the edge is followed by a tongue
The Monteleone Chariot V: Catalogue 65