The Horse and Rider from Albania: Conservation

In 2018, archaeologists excavating an ancient Greek settlement near the town of Babunjë, Albania, discovered an extraordinary bronze statuette of an armed rider on a well-groomed horse made approximately 2,500 years ago. Even with many of its details obscured by the soil adhering to its surface, the figure’s outstanding craftsmanship was immediately apparent. Subsequent conservation has confirmed that the statuette was on par with the most refined bronze work produced in Greek workshops around 500 BCE.

Although made of valuable metal and displaying an exceptional degree of detail, the statuette emerged from an archaeological context which has yet to produce any other comparable luxury objects. While the ancient name of the Babunjë site is unknown, ceramic finds and architectural remains suggest that it was settled by Greeks in the late 500s BCE and was one of several small defense outposts within the territory of the Greek colony of Apollonia.

Small figurative bronzes were created in sizable quantity by most cultures of the ancient world: for example, those of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Anatolia, India, Greece, and Rome. Their designs range from representations of divinities as votive gifts, sacred items created as burial goods, to images that were decorative or utilitarian. The lost-wax casting process was the most widely used method to create small bronzes, although technical and regional differences are observed over time. Such small images might be further refined by inlays of stones, glass, other metals, or surface gilding.

• Photographic documentation
• Visual examination using visible and ultraviolet lights
• Examination and documentation using a digital microscope
• Prior to treatment, the statuette was examined using X-radiography to visualize its shape below the surface accretions and gain insights into its manufacture. The X-ray images revealed that the sculpture was solid, and that the work was cast in one piece. This means that horse and rider were sculpted as one unit in the modeling process. Most likely they would have been formed in wax then embedded into a clay mold, into which the molten copper alloy was cast, in a process called the lost-wax casting method. The X-ray images also showed that, beneath adhering soil, the rider wore a sword. The bridle and bit of the horse were shaped separately from bronze wire, and a pin set into the top of the rider’s head served a now unknown purpose.
• X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) was used to determine the general elemental composition of the copper alloy used to cast the bronze, a copper tin bronze, and of the added thin wires used to fabricate the bridle and the horse bit.

Conservators consulted with colleagues from the Babunjë excavation team and the Albanian Institute of Archaeology to devise a plan for the object’s treatment and future care. In conserving the bronze, the main goal was to remove soil and mineral deposits and reveal details of the surface decoration. Using mechanical tools, such as tiny scalpels developed for eye surgery, larger surgical scalpels, and small brushes, the sculpture was cleaned in minute sections. Some of the original surface of the bronze, bearing sculptural details such as the braided tail, the faces of rider and horse, and the mane, were mineralized underground from their original metallic state.

Questions remain about the statuette’s context, including how it arrived at its site of discovery, why was it there, and how it fits within the social life of the Babunjë settlement in the Archaic and Classical periods. Was it a stand-alone piece or part of a larger bronze such as a decorated krater or a tripod? How will the ongoing excavations at Babunjë change our interpretation of the object's purpose and the identity of its owners?