The statuette of a rider astride his now-missing horse was probably dedicated in a Greek sanctuary. In early Greece, people often presented statuettes like this as gifts to the gods, and they were produced in large quantities by many workshops. The Getty Museum's rider was cast in solid bronze, and its style suggests that it was made in the city of Corinth, a leading center for bronze working in this period. Although scholars are uncertain, the statuette's patina and similarities to other bronze works suggest that this rider may have been dedicated at Dodona in northern Greece, a major sanctuary of Zeus, the king of the gods. The motif of the rider was quite popular in early Greek art. Raising horses was an aristocratic pursuit requiring substantial wealth in the Archaic period. Therefore, depictions of horses carried connotations of wealth and status that may have reflected the social position of the dedicator.