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bronze head of a seahorse or hippocampus
£40.00
A delightful miniature head of this enchanting sea-creature. Height: 8cm Width 4cm
quantity
about the bronzes in this collection
The bronze pieces are cast in Greece using the traditional lost wax method. As nothing is mass-produced, there will inevitably be slight variations in texture, patina, and colour. No two pieces are ever the same. If mounted on a marble base, it will be a black or very dark grey base. There may be a variation of some millimetres in the dimensions of the base from time to time. It's All Greek is so grateful and so proud to have been working closely with the Semitekolo family foundry since 1999. It has been a privilege and a joy to handle, live with, and photograph these gorgeous pieces and to pass them on to customers all over the world. |
about the seahorse
In Greek, a hippokampos, or hippocampus. Hippocampoi were hybrid creatures with the head and foreparts of a horse and the serpentine tail of a fish. In mosaics they were often covered with green scales and had fish-fin manes.
This creature combines terrestrial with aquatic. The horse represents nobility, freedom, and strength, the fish-tail evokes the mystery and fluidity of the ocean. The hippocampus crosses the boundaries between two worlds...and reflects the Greek fascination with hybrids (eg centaurs, satyrs) as expressions of transitional spaces and liminality.
The ancient Greeks believed they were a fully matured version of our sea-horse. The Nereids and sea gods such as Triton used the hippocampoi to get about, and Poseidon himself drove a chariot drawn by a team of them.
Hippocampoi appear on the coinage of South Italy, where the Greeks established many colonies, hence the area being called Magna Graecia. Coins from ancient Syracuse, for example, show Athena on the obverse, a hippocampos on the reverse.