Journal - Comune di Monteleone di Spoleto

V.6 Central panel, detail of the woman’s breast
V.7 Central panel, detail of the warrior’s body
spaces between the helmet and the warrior’s head; the bird
on the left presents only one wing, as if both wings were
perfectly superimposed.
The deer has no antlers and thus is a fawn or a doe. its
upturned body is depicted in profile facing right, its legs are
slightly crossed, and its head is drooping; its belly is partially
hidden by the shield. The spots on the coat are executed
conventionally, in the same manner as the panther’s
head. The same punched dots are used for the underbelly
and muzzle, as well as for the calluses on the hind legs. The
tail is covered in serried, unbroken lines. The eyes have neither
irises nor pupils, whereas the eyelashes and eyebrows
are finished with tracing.
Condition. The panel is basically complete and flexible
despite the narrow cracks that were present in 1903 and
consolidated on the reverse by Charles Balliard (see
Figure i.23). Some losses of metal that were clearly visible
at the time that Paul Bollo made his drawing (Figure V.3)
were restored during the recent conservation work: two in
the warrior’s hair, one in his left arm, and one in his right
thigh, plus another rather large one at the lower section of
the shield and a small one at the hem of the woman’s chiton.
a fragment that in 1903 had already been placed behind
the woman’s right heel was repositioned there, while the
replacement Balliard applied on top of the border was
removed. The missing part of the woman’s left foot is in the
museo archeologico, Florence (see Figure i.15). Hence it
was decided not to fill in either that part or the surrounding
area. The cutout made in antiquity to slot the pole into place
(see below) should not be mistaken for metal loss.
The outer surface of the panel shows areas of plain metal
and others covered with brown tarnish; there are patches
of considerable green corrosion. The interior surface shows
mottled dull black corrosion with spots of green corrosion.
There is an accumulation of iron corrosion at the bottom
center edge, near the area where the pole was attached.
The Monteleone Chariot V: Catalogue 69