The sculpture is a round medallion or coin-shaped object featuring a relief scene with two people. The person on the left appears to be an elderly male, slightly hunched and with a bearded face, sitting on something indistinct and facing the left. The person on the right also appears to be male and holds an object that resembles a lyre. He faces away from the older man but turns his head towards him. Both men are nude but partially draped with fabric around their thighs. Between the two large men, there is a smaller figure, but it is hard to determine if it is a smaller human or an animal. Behind the people, there is a background element that looks like a tree with a few branches extending upward. The color of the sculpture is dark brown with a patina that obscures many details of the carving. The top of the medallion has a small circular hole.
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The sculpture is a round medallion or coin-shaped object featuring a relief scene with two people. The person on the left appears to be an elderly male, slightly hunched and with a bearded face, sitting on something indistinct and facing the left. The person on the right also appears to be male and holds an object that resembles a lyre. He faces away from the older man but turns his head towards him. Both men are nude but partially draped with fabric around their thighs. Between the two large men, there is a smaller figure, but it is hard to determine if it is a smaller human or an animal. Behind the people, there is a background element that looks like a tree with a few branches extending upward. The color of the sculpture is dark brown with a patina that obscures many details of the carving. The top of the medallion has a small circular hole.

National Gallery of Art · Sculpture

Apollo, Marsyas, and Olympus

Florentine 15th Century

Date
15th century
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
overall (oval): 4.24 x 3.62 cm (1 11/16 x 1 7/16 in.) gross weight: 21.57 gr (0.048 lb.)
Classification
Sculpture · Plaquette
Accession number
1942.9.201
Credit line
Widener Collection
Time span
1300 to 1400
Department
CSD

Subjects and terms

  • Florentine
  • classical
  • mythology
  • Renaissance Plaquettes
  • Apollo
  • Marsyas
Provenance

Oscar Hainauer [d. 1894], Berlin; his wife, Julie Hainauer, Berlin; acquired 1906 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); by exchange 21 October 1920 to Joseph E. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.

Inscription

along upper left edge of field: LAV . R . MED (Lorenzo de' Medici)[1]

Marks

Reverse bears former inventory numbers P [81] in black paint, partly illegible (Bode/Thieme 1897/1906), and 113 in white paint (Hainauer/Duveen 1908).

NGA object ID 1361. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.