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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.1320
Title
Protome of a Griffin from a Brazier
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
late 7th-early 6th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Etruria
Period
Orientalizing period to Archaic
Culture
Etruscan
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304014

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
18.4 x 14.61 cm (7 1/4 x 5 3/4 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Point 1: Cu, 86.47; Sn, 11.63; Pb, 1.03; Zn, 0.008; Fe, 0.06; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.06; Sb, 0.1; As, 0.56; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.015; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

Point 2: Cu, 84.97; Sn, 12.06; Pb, 2.11; Zn, 0.007; Fe, 0.05; Ni, 0.06; Ag, 0.06; Sb, 0.07; As, 0.6; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.015; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer


Comments: The curatorial file has a note that said: “2 samples reported, only one hole found.” These numbers are possible for two samples from the same drill hole.

Technical Observations: The patina is predominantly a green and black layer over red and brown. A crack in the proper left ear shows the brittleness of cast metal. There are other casting flaws present as blind cracks with whitish deposits are present.

The griffin head was cast hollow, although the ears are solid. Tool marks were done in the model prior to casting. There is also evidence of cold working after casting.


Carol Snow and Nina Vinogradskaya (submitted 2002)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.1320
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This griffin protome is unusual in that it ends in a hollow square socket rather than in a circular flange, as griffin protomes from cauldrons do (1). The head is elongated, and its upright animal ears rise from a bulge extending to both sides of the chin. The exterior surfaces of the ears are concave. A crack extends from the front edge of the left ear. A vertical crack appears in the surface of the neck below the chin. The hollow eyes, marked by raised brows, originally had inlaid pupils, perhaps of glass paste. A knob ending in a biconical bead with a second conical element on top rises from the center of the forehead. The socket is emphasized by a group of three raised ridges. There is no incised surface ornament anywhere on this protome.

Square-socketed griffin protomes are rare. A virtual twin to this protome is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2). The date of acquisition of both pieces suggests that they may originally have formed a pair. While other griffin protomes ending in square sockets are known from Etruscan contexts, they differ markedly from the Harvard piece (3). Their necks are thin and stylized, and pairs of paws extend from the front part of the body (4). Possible uses for these protomes are for the arms of elaborate chairs or thrones, for the ends of horizontal poles, for sedan chairs, or as attachments for braziers. The modeling of the head, ears, and forehead knob make it highly probably that this piece is based on examples from an eastern Greek workshop that was closely affiliated with the workshop at the Heraion of Samos, to which around 300 griffin protomes are fragments have been attributed (5).

NOTES:

1. See, for example, 1963.130.

2. Inv. no. 41.11.2; see C. Alexander, “Greek Accessions: A Bronze Griffin, a Terracotta Vase, a Wax Head,” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 36.10 (1941): 202-205, esp. 202-203, fig. 1; and R. De Puma, Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2013) 85, no. 4.55.

3. For general discussion of griffin protomes in Etruria and the West, as well as their relationship to Greek prototypes, see A. Romualdi, Catalogo del deposito di Brolio in val di Chiana (Rome, 1981) 21-22.

4. For examples in museums, see S. Haynes, Etruscan Bronzes (London, 1985) 142 and 254-55, nos. 25-26; U. Jantzen, Griechische Greifenkessel (Berlin, 1955) 80-81, including nn. 116-19 and pl. 59 (pieces in Florence, British Museum, Louvre, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the last of which is a twin to the Harvard piece; see supra 2).

5. Jantzen 1955 (supra 4); id., “Greifenprotomen von Samos: Ein Nachtrag,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung 73 (1958): 26-49; H.-V. Herrmann, Die Kessel der orientalisierenden Zeit 2: Die Greifenprotomen aus dem Heraion von Samos, Olympische Forschungen 11 (Berlin, 1979); U. Gehrig, Die Greifenprotomen aus dem Heraion von Samos, Samos 9 (Bonn, 2004); and U. Höckmann, Die Bronzen aus dem Fürstengrab von Castel San Mariano bei Perugia (Munich, 1982) nos. 3-4, pl. 66.


David G. Mitten

Publication History

  • George M. A. Hanfmann, Greek Art and Life, An Exhibition Catalogue, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1950), no. 6.
  • David Gordon Mitten, "Two Griffin Protomes", Fogg Art Museum Acquisitions, 1963, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1964), 11-19, fig. 2.
  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), p. 256 (checklist).

Exhibition History

  • Greek Art and Life: From the Collections of the Fogg Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Private Lenders, Fogg Art Museum, 03/07/1950 - 04/15/1950

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Objects

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu