Limestone altar or pedestal with coiled snake

Limestone altar or pedestal with coiled snake

Description:

A snake, the head of which is missing, is coiled on the cover of a circular box.



A snake, the head of which is missing, is coiled on the cover of a circular box (pyxis?). There are traces of red paint on the snake, the cover, and the base of the box, which is partially missing.


Diam.: 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (7 cm)

Period:

Classical

Date:

499 - 400 BC

Collection:

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Provenance:

Sanctuary of Golgoi-Ayios Photios

References:

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. XXIX.192, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 1153, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Hermary, Antoine and Joan R. Mertens. 2013. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Stone Sculpture. no. 431, p. 305, Online Publication, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Accession Number:

74.51.2782