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Repoussé plaque with a winged goddess holding lions
Greek, East Greek
Orientalizing Period
660–620 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Electrum
Dimensions
3.5 x 2.8 cm (1 3/8 x 1 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number99.393
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment
DescriptionThis repousse plaque depicts a winged goddess holding a lion by the tail in each of her fists. The goddess has long, straight hair detailed with horizontal striations, typical of the Daedalic style of the early Archaic period. Her wings are decorated with curving lines. Her narrow waist is belted, and her skirt falls straight, forming a sort of rectangle. Each of felines the woman holds rears back towards the goddess with an open mouth, as if to bite her in hopes of being released from her grasp. Below the head of each line, flanking the goddess, are dots, perhaps meant to be the centers of rosettes that have lost their petals. The top and sides of this plaque are decorated with a border of small dots, unevenly punched. The lower border of 5 large dots seems to have been slightly misplaced on the mold when it was stamped, as the dots slant on a diagonal downwards towards the right. There are small perforations in the lion, perhaps where the plaque would have been sewn to a piece of clothing.
ProvenanceBy date unknown: W. H. Forman Collection; inherited from him by Mrs. Burt and then, about 1889, by A. H. Browne; by 1899: with Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 13 Wellington Strand, London, W.C. (sale of the Forman collection, June 19-22, lot 397, partial; said to have come from Kameiros); 1899: with Edward Perry Warren; 1899: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren for $ 32,500.00 (this is the total price for MFA 99.338-99.542)