Limestone pediment from a funerary stele (shaft)

Limestone pediment from a funerary stele (shaft)

Description:

In the center two women stand tearing their hair in mourning. They are flanked by lions and diminutive figures that may represent a Master of the Animals, known in Near Eastern art, or else the Egyptian god Bes. An inscription on the lower edge reads: "I am Aristokretes, my brothers set [this] down in memory of good deeds that I once did well."


WebPub GR 2012 Cesnola: 13 1/2 × 48 × 5 1/2 in., 129 lb. (34.3 × 121.9 cm)

Period:

Hellenistic

Date:

299 - 100 BC

Collection:

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Provenance:

Said to be from the necropolis of Golgoi, Cyprus

References:

Hall, Isaac H. 1874. "Cypriote Inscriptions of the Di Cesnola Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Journal of the American Oriental Society, 10: nos. 16, 31, p. 211, 215, pls. IV, VIII.Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1885. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 1. pl. LXXXV.563, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1903. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 3. pl. CXXXVII, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 1857, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Masson, Olivier. 1961. Les Inscriptions Chypriotes Syllabiques: Recueil Critique et Commenté. no. 261, pl. XLVI.1, Paris: E. de Boccard.Masson, Olivier. 1971. "Kypriaka IX: Recherches sur les antiquités de Golgoi." Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, 95(1): p. 316, fig. 6.Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 350, p. 220, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Hermary, Antoine and Joan R. Mertens. 2013. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Stone Sculpture. no. 482, pp. 346-47, Online Publication, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Accession Number:

74.51.2317