View of one of the "Riace Bronze" statues that were found in the sea near Riace in 1972. This one is called "B" and both statues are about 6 ft 6 in tall. This appears to be the "younger-looking" of the two statues. He stands in a contrapposto pose. Calcite was used to make their eyes while their nipples, eyelashes and open lips were made using copper. The teeth of Statue A are made out of a single strip of silver.
It seems that the statues were cast in the middle of the fifth century B.C. It is not certain who the sculptor(s) was/were. It seems that the bronze material is from Agros or Attica in Greece. Possibly they were on a ship that foundered off the coast of Riace that was carrying these statues to Rome (as plunder?)—but no shipwreck has been found in the vicinity.
They are now displayed in a climate-controlled room of the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia in Reggio di Calabria.