A Bronze Ingot-bearer from Cyprus

Abstract

Cypriot bronze four-sided stands represent some of the most impressive metal artefacts produced in the Eastern Mediterranean. As such they offer insight into the high level of the Cypriot bronzework of the Late Bronze Age and witness the advanced skills of the Cypriot metalsmiths. A bronze fragment depicting a man bearing an oxhide ingot, detached from a four-sided stand and housed in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, is now added to the corpus of these works. Although unprovenanced, its Cypriot origin is proven by its close typological, technological and stylistic affinities when compared to other Cypriot stands. The discussion of technology, style and chronology of this fragment serves as an opportunity for the evaluation of the stands as a whole and their establishment as products of great technical and artistic virtuosity.