This is a detail from metope 31 on the south side, notable for its grimacing expression. The sculptor, Pheidias, has shown the centaurs as older, bearded and more battle-scarred. Their human opponents, the Lapiths, were by contrast depicted as muscular and athletic youths. With its heavily furrowed brow, wrinkled nose and gritted teeth, this centaur’s face is reminiscent of the tragic masks of ancient Greek theatre
London British Museum 320
Purchased by the Fitzwilliam Museum prior to 1884 from Brucciani of London. Transferred to the Museum in 1884
Smith, AH: Sculpture of the Parthenon, pl. 24 (upper)
Richter: Three Critical Periods in Greek Sculpture, 12, figs.17, 19, 20
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 68, nos. 314-7
Smith: Catalogue of British Museum Sculpture I (1892), 143
Removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin
