Oil-Pourer

In ancient Athens the winners at the Panathenaic games, held every four years in honour of the city goddess Athena, were paid in olive oil. It came from Athena's sacred olive trees and was handed over in large painted jars. Oil was also part of every athlete's routine. Before exercise he rubbed it into his skin, and afterwards he scraped it off again together with the sweat and dust.

This young man is at the first stage. He pours oil from a small flask held high in his right hand into the cupped palm of his left. Both forearms are lost today, so the gesture has to be pictured. The bronze original belongs to the middle of the 4th century BC, and some scholars connect it with the circle of Lysippos.

The figure type is named after this statue. Archaeologists call it the Munich Oil-Pourer, and another copy of it is in Dresden. This one stands 1.93 metres tall.