Pierced appliqué plaque: frontal quadriga with Nike charioteer

Made in Northern Greece in the late sixth century B.C., it is a silver gilt applique in the form of a frontal quadriga, a four-horse chariot. The artisan embossed a sheet of silver over a bronze matrix, adding the finer details free-hand with punches, chisel, and engraver. The holes around the perimeter and the piercing of the background show that it was designed to be sewn to a piece of brightly colored cloth or leather, possibly a saddle cloth or an ornament on a racing chariot. The charioteer is Nike, the winged goddess of victory, whose presence may allude to the owner's success in the hippodrome. The horses are rendered with strict frontality, their tails visible between their legs, as are the wheels of the chariot. The pole horses rub noses while the other two turn their heads to left and right, an arrangement seen also in black-figure vase-paintings of the period.