Limestone finial of a funerary stele with two recumbent lions

Limestone finial of a funerary stele with two recumbent lions

Description:

The cavetto finial is decorated with a winged disk; on the underside, a mortise of 4½ x 4 cm was used for attachment to a stele. The two lions are recumbent, back to back, but the hindquarters are raised, leaving an unfilled space below.


Overall: 13 1/4 x 24 1/2 x 7 in. (33.7 x 62.2 x 17.8 cm)

Period:

Archaic II

Date:

510 - 490 BC

Collection:

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Provenance:

From “the ruins of Idalium”

References:

Doell, Johannes. 1873. Die Sammlung Cesnola. no. 826, p. 55, pl. XIII.16, St. Petersburg: L’Académie Impérial des Sciences.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. CXXII.909, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 1390, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Pogiatzi, Elena. 2003. Die Grabreliefs auf Zypern: von der archaischen bis zur romischen Zeit. cat. 8, pp. 6, 78, 83, 110, pl. V, Mannheim: Bibliopolis.Hermary, Antoine and Joan R. Mertens. 2013. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Stone Sculpture. no. 461, pp. 331-32, Online Publication, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Accession Number:

74.51.2866