Attributed to the Neapolitan foundry Chiurazzi, circa 1900. Copies of the bronzes excavated from the Vila of the Papyri Herculaneum, circa 1754, these athletes are stooped in a pose of readiness, their heads slightly turned Sinister and Dexter. Cast in sections in the lost wax method, having weathered green showing some old repairs - especially evident on the back of one model.

Cast from a mould taken from the Roman version - now in the Naples National Archaeological Museum - the original model (probably much earlier, dating back to the late third century BC) most likely celebrating a victorious athlete (or wrestler) in the pan Hellenic games.