The ''Oil Pourer'' is a lost Greek bronze of an athlete variously associated with the circle of

Lysippos Lysippos (; grc-gre, Λύσιππος) was a Ancient Greek sculpture, Greek sculptor of the 4th century BC. Together with Scopas and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the three greatest sculptors of the Ancient Greece, Classical Greek era, bri ...

, c. 340-330 BCE, of which Roman marble copies exist, notably in the

Glyptothek The Glyptothek () is a museum in Munich, Germany, which was commissioned by the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig I to house his collection of Ancient Greek art, Greek and Roman art, Roman sculptures (hence γλυπτο- ''glypto-'' "sculp ...

, Munich (''illustration'') and in the

Albertinum The Albertinum () is a modern art museum. The sandstone-clad Renaissance Revival building is located on Brühl's Terrace in the historic center of Dresden, Germany. It is named after King Albert of Saxony. The Albertinum hosts the New Masters G ...

, Dresden. Another well-known Roman replica is conserved at

Petworth House Petworth House in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the design of the architect Anthony Sa ...

. There is a head of this type at the

Boston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

. The ''Oil Pourer'' is similar in proportions and manner to the Lysippean ''Agias'' of which there is a Roman marble copy at

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...

. The athlete is represented pouring oil from a flask held high in his (missing) right hand into the (missing) palm of his left. The theme is represented on Attic vase-painting and in freely reinterpreted cast terracotta miniatures."Typically coroplasts eschewed accurate replicas for new creations couched in the stylistic vocabulary of an influential sculptor such as

Polykleitos Polykleitos ( grc, Πολύκλειτος) was an ancient Greek sculptor in bronze of the 5th century BCE. Alongside the Athenian sculptors Pheidias, Myron and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the most important sculptors of classical antiqu ...

Praxiteles Praxiteles (; el, Πραξιτέλης) of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attica sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue. While no indubita ...

", observes Elizabeth Bartman, ''Ancient Sculptural Copies in Miniature'' (Leiden:Brill, 1992) "Statuary types and materials" p. 21 and note 31: "To this category belong variants of the Munich Oil Pourer". The Munich sculpture was treated in the 19th century with acid to clean it, which has dissolved about 2mm off its surfaces.

Notes

{{reflist Roman copies of 4th-century BC Greek sculptures