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Figure of a lion, from a vessel or box (?)
Italic, Etruscan
Archaic Period
about 525–500 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Bronze
Dimensions
Height x length: 5.8 x 9.7 cm (2 5/16 x 3 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Edwin E. Jack Fund
Accession Number66.9
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
Catalogue Raisonné
Greek, Etruscan, & Roman Bronzes (MFA), no. 433; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 124 (additional published references).
DescriptionThe lion is recumbent, with ears back and tail curled up toward the left top of his rump. Whiskers and ruff are modeled and incised; the mane is incised with curving strokes like parentheses. He seems to be partly hollow cast with some lead filling and an iron pin through his back, suggesting he sat on the rim or handle-plate of a vessel, or on the lid of a box. The left ear is damaged. Ancient pin for mounting in bottom center; interior at rear filled with lead. Green patina with reddish brown encrustation and pitting.
ProvenanceBy date unknown shortly after 1949: George Ortiz Collection, Switzerland (said in his letter of February 8, 2001, to have come from Cerveteri via the Roman art market); by 1965: with Mathias Komor, 19 East 71st Street, New York 21; purchased by MFA from Mathias Komor, January 12, 1966