Funerary monument for an athlete
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The Funerary monument for an athlete is an Ancient Greek relief that depicts a young nude male holding two pomegranates over his head in his left hand, and an aryballos (a flask for perfume and oils) in the other.[1] He stands facing right in profile to the viewer, with one foot stepping out in front of the other. The relief is 98 x 24 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches and is carved in marble.[2]
The statue is rendered in the regional sculptural style of Boeotia, which favored representing lean, muscular young men, as opposed to the fleshy, rounded males depicted in contemporary eastern Greece.[3][4] The relief borrows heavily from kouros sculpture. Like kouroi, the relief was used as a grave marker depicting a generalized image of an attractive youth. The subject also sports the archaic smile typical of kouros statuary.[5]
