The Menil Collection The Menil Collection

Representing a horse, this figure is a type produced in the region of Boeotia, Greece during the 6th century BCE. The horses are categorized as black-on-brown for the main color of the slip decoration on the light brown clay. Black-on-brown horses were created at the same time as red-on-white horses (an example of which is CA 6116), also Boeotian products, but ceased to be made by the mid-6th century BCE. A group of these horses is stylistically linked by their decorative schema, including horizontal lines. This group also shares similar traits including a barrel-shaped muzzle, flat broad tail, cylindrical legs, and an extended neck with an attached mane forming a triangular wedge. Terracotta horses were popular at the same time as female statuettes known as plank figures (examples in the Menil Collection include CA 6116 and 1964-176 McA), which together represent the beginning of a strong terracotta manufacturing tradition in Boeotia that continued into the Hellenistic period.