A freestanding, deftly chiselled group, composed of two nude youths on a hunt, both with short, curly hair and strong musculature, advancing away from one another. Their quarry, a rabbit, is hanging from a bunch of spears held over the shoulder of the left hand figure. His right hand grasps a lagobolon, a type of knobbly hunting stick, resting it on his left thigh; acanthus leaves arch upward between his legs, his left leg overlaps that of the figure beside him, and his head is twisted to his left, gazing straight ahead. The lower body of the second figure, whose strong diagonals mirror his companion’s stance, is framed by the folds of his cloak which falls toward his calf. He also grasps a bunch of hunting spears held vertically in his left hand, behind him is the base of a tree trunk. Recomposed from several large fragments, some scratches to the surface toned down.

This fragmentary, freestanding group was attached to the top of a funerary shrine, or ‘naiskos’. From 325-250 BC naiskoi tombs were commonplace in Tarentum, a Greek colony in South Italy. They were decorated with pedimental relief figures, acroteria, metopes and sculpted friezes. Their existence is best attested to in local red-figured vases of the period. These naiskoi were carved from an indigenous limestone and were mainly reserved for the tombs of the wealthy.

The symmetry in the contrasting movements seen here is accentuated by the overlapping legs and the vegetal supports, creating a series of intersecting diagonals. Jucker (op. cit., p.21) notes that the group tilts forward, indicating that it must have been attached to the upper part of the naiskos. As there are no visible traces on the back to suggest that the figures were fixed to a background, the group would have most likely been free standing.