The nude figure of a man stands in a contraposto position with his weight placed on the straight left leg, while the relaxed right leg is bent at the knee and extended behind. The left arm bends at the elbow with the hand resting on the hip. The hip of the weight bearing right leg is thrust outward and the projection of the buttocks is pronounced. The short hair of the figure is impressed with a circular groove for a diadem or wreath. The right hand holds out a kantharos, a two-handled wine-cup usually associated with the Greek god of wine, Dionysos. This particular shape of kantharos is a type common in the fourth century B.C.

Usually representing dedicants or athletes, this type of figure with a hand on the hip is known from a number of Etruscan bronze statuettes dating to the fourth century B.C. Although a more modest work, this figure is related in form to a bronze statuette of a youth previously in the Fleischman collection and now in the Getty Museum [see M. True and A. Kozloff, et al., A Passion for Antiquities (Malibu 1994), 170-72, no. 79]. The details of anatomy and the musculature of the figure are done in a simplified and stylized manner. The torso is elongated, as well as the arms and legs. Like the Getty bronze, proportions of the statuette and its modified, but still classicizing, form reflect the influence of Hellenistic Greece and the work of the Greek sculptor, Lysippus. Additionally, Lysippan proportions of a slim but muscularly body suggest the artist was inspired by Greek sculptural prototypes dating to the second half of the fourth century B.C. The exaggerated S-shaped curve of the figure’s torso, clearly evident from the back, is emphasized by the figure’s stance that suggests action and movement, which represents yet another inheritance from Lysippus. This sculptural style could have been introduced to Etruscan artists by way of imported small-scale Greek bronzes.

Although it is likely that this bronze figure of a man holding a kantharos represents a mortal being taking part in a symposium, or offering a libation of wine from the kantharos, it may also represent the Etruscan god of wine and fertility, Fufluns, who was worshiped at Populonia. The drinking of wine from a kantharos or the pouring of a libation from this vessel would be an appropriate action for the god.

All e-Tiquities have been searched in the Art Loss Register database.