Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 15; Michaelis, pl. 3, vi.; Stereoscopic, No. 84.
310. The Lapith presses forward, advancing his left hand to seize the rearing Centaur by the throat, and forcing him on his haunches; the right arm of the Lapith is drawn back, as if about to strike; his right hand, now wanting, probably held a sword: a mantle fastened on the right shoulder falls over the left arm like a shield, and flies back behind. The Centaur, rearing up against his antagonist, tries in vain to pull away the left hand of the Lapith, which, in Carrey's drawing, he grasps. The head of the Centaur is a cast from the original at Athens. From the shoulders of the Centaur hangs a small chlamys; the folds fly behind, and show the violence and swiftness of the action. The head of the Lapith is a cast from the original, which is now in the Louvre. Carrey's drawing gives the missing parts of the legs of this group. This is, perhaps, the finest of all the metopes in the Museum. The action is most spirited, and the modelling very thorough and masterly.
Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 3; Michaelis, pl. 3, vii.; Stereoscopic, No. 85; Waldstein, in Journ. of Hellen. Studies, III., pl. 23, p. 228; Essays, pls. 1, 2, p. 97.
311. The Lapith is kneeling on his right knee. The Centaur, the human portion of whose body is broken away, presses down his antagonist. From Carrey's drawing, taken when this metope was nearly complete, we learn what the action was. He represents the Centaur bending over the kneeling Lapith, and raising his right hand to strike a deadly blow at his antagonist, who looks up with his head thrown back, and stretches out his left arm towards the breast of the Centaur. A chlamys hangs down from the left arm of the Lapith. His right arm, which was lost in the time of Carrey, must have been raised. The right hind foot of the Centaur rests on a rock.
Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 6; Michaelis, pl. 3, viii.; Stereoscopic, No. 86.
312. The Centaur has again the advantage. The Lapith is thrown down over a large wine vessel, pithos; the Centaur has grasped his left leg with his left hand, rolling him back on the jar. The Lapith seizes his antagonist by the beard with his left hand, while his right arm, now broken off, has been vainly extended behind him, seeking some support. The right thigh of this figure, the head and part of the right arm of the Centaur are casts from three fragments at Athens. Carrey's drawing gives the left arm and side of the Centaur, as well as his head. The head and right arm and hand of the Lapith are also shown in his drawing, but not the portion of right thigh which has recently been added. The wine vessel in this metope, and the hydria in No. 307, indicate the wedding feast of Peirithoös as the scene of the contest.
Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 4; Michaelis, pl. 3, ix.; Stereoscopic, No. 87.
313. This metope is a cast from the one removed by Choiseul-Gouffier when French ambassador at the Porte, about the year 1787, and now in the Louvre. The group represents a Centaur carrying off a Lapith wife or maiden. The Centaur is rearing up; he grasps the woman between his forelegs. His left hand presses against her left side, and it appears from Carrey's drawing of this metope that his right hand grasped her right wrist. With her left hand she is vainly endeavouring to loosen his grasp round her waist, and to readjust her disordered drapery. She wears a chiton with diploïdion fastened on the right shoulder with a brooch. In the struggle the chiton has fallen from the left shoulder. On her right foot is a sandal with a thick sole; her left foot is broken off above the ankle. Carrey's drawing gives this foot resting on a rock, also other parts of the group which are now wanting.
Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 16; Michaelis, pl. 3, x.; Stereoscopic, No. 88.
The next metope in order on the Parthenon is now only preserved in Carrey's drawing, which represents a Lapith armed with a shield, who seems to be stabbing the Centaur in the belly. The Centaur grasps the edge of the shield with his left hand. A fragment of this shield with the left arm of the Lapith inside and the fingers of the Centaur on the rim exists at Athens; cf. No. 343, 1.