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Leopard
Italic, Etruscan
Archaic Period
about 560 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Nenfro
Dimensions
Height x length: 66 x 116 cm (26 x 45 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Horace L. Mayer
Accession Number63.2757
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
Catalogue Raisonné
Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 389; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 116 (additional published references).
DescriptionThis leopard came from an architectural setting and must have had a pendant facing in the opposite direction. Not only is he considerably larger than the other two, but he is much more ferocious in appearance, with malevolent eyes, a twitching nose, and ears lying back almost flat along the cranium. He is also characterized by pointed haunches enframed in stylized outlines to suggest the folds of his skin.
Legs and much of the right side are broken away, with ruts and grooves, as if he had lain face down as building material or a paving block in Roman times or the Middle Ages. Although different from the other two Boston leopards (61.130 and 63.2756) in style and proportions, this beast must also date shortly before the middle of the sixth century B.C.
The statue has a brown patina with somewhat crusty surfaces.
Legs and much of the right side are broken away, with ruts and grooves, as if he had lain face down as building material or a paving block in Roman times or the Middle Ages. Although different from the other two Boston leopards (61.130 and 63.2756) in style and proportions, this beast must also date shortly before the middle of the sixth century B.C.
The statue has a brown patina with somewhat crusty surfaces.
ProvenanceBy 1961: with Hesperia Art, 2219 St. James Place, Philadelphia 3, Pa. (presumably from Vulci); December 1963: purchased by Horace L. Mayer from Hesperia Art; loaned by Horace L. Mayer to MFA, December 23, 1963; yar-end gift of Horace L. Mayer to MFA, December 26, 1963