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[–] RiverWind 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Thank you, /u/CobraStallone for yet another inspirational acquisition.

This piece caught my attention immediately, perhaps because there are few bronze artifacts in our Museum. I am very happy to be close to this piece. It is at eye level. I can see the wonderful, turquoise patina that is so coveted by collectors. I am happy to see something so strong and so enduring, and indeed, so beautiful.

Though it might have been more practical to have made this as a semi-circle, so as to allow it to be closer to the chair, that would have lost the radial symmetry. It reminds me somewhat of a shield, and one can well imagine this being offered to some victorious person to wash their feet in pure, clean water. Something very different from the blood of enemies.

I also like that there is no context for the piece. We focus only on the item itself. Our imagination can carry us to Greece, and it is easy to see in our mind's eye the footbath resting on exquisite white marble. Though I do not imagine myself putting my feet into it, this would be a great luxury. We do not see the servant, perhaps a slave, who would wash our feet, or the craftsman who created it, or the society that brought it into being, along with Democracy and Western Philosophy.

I do wonder who might once have had their feet bathed in this footbath. Perhaps it was an ancient David Beckham. I am reminded of the Pope washing feet in the present day.