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The neck and head of a screaming beaked creature.

A creature with a long curving neck, tall narrow ears, an open beak with a curling tongue, and big black eyes. On its head, in front of the ears and between the eyes there is a finial coming up from its head, a staff with a bulbous pointed head. At the base, the creatures neck flares outward slightly and there are several holes visible, as if this object was intended to be screwed on to something else. The material overall is a rough textured green color.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1963.130
Title
Griffin Protome from a Cauldron
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
mid 7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Cyclades
Period
Orientalizing period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304136

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3400, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Greece in Black and Orange
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
18.4 x 4.8 x 8.3 cm (7 1/4 x 1 7/8 x 3 1/4 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 90.81; Sn, 8.74; Pb, 0.13; Zn, 0.008; Fe, 0.16; Ni, 0.06; Ag, 0.03; Sb, less than 0.02; As, less than 0.10; Bi, 0.045; Co, 0.024; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron

K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is dark green with brown, and there are areas of blue in the interior. There are three rivets and one circular hole in the flange at the base of its neck that would have been used to attach the object to a cauldron. Inside the base is a circular area (4 mm in diameter) of bright metal possibly from a sample site. A flattened rivet is visible on the exterior of the flange at the same location as the exposed bright metal in the interior; it is probably an ancient rivet rather than a modern one, as corrosion matches the other surfaces.

The griffin protome was hollow cast in one piece. There are two drip marks from the wax visible in the interior of the object, as well as some possible tool marks from spreading wax in the mold. Along the interior flange of the base, where the attachment of the protome would occur, is a band (8 to 12 mm wide) with a sharply defined internal edge. This band may be related to the original model used for casting. Inside the object around the back of the griffin’s neck are the remains of dark gray core material. The object decreases in thickness from 4.5 to 3.2 mm.

The incised decoration was made in the wax model; soft contours consistent with working in wax are visible. Furthermore, the incised lines of the curling lock on either side of the neck are smooth and continuous. There is no evidence of the small impressions from individual hammer marks that are often associated with metal chasing techniques. The decoration around the mouth and ears was probably incised freehand, since some of the incisions are wider than others. The scales of the griffin may have been made freehand in the wax instead of using a lunate punch, since the scales vary in size, angle, and sharpness of the inner curve.


Tracy Richardson (submitted 1999)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
S. Morgenroth to Charles L. Morley; to Frederick M. Watkins, gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1963.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Frederick M. Watkins
Accession Year
1963
Object Number
1963.130
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Inspired by Near Eastern vessels and monster imagery, Greek metal smiths of the seventh century BC produced numerous cauldrons of hammered metal that were adorned with the heads and necks of griffins, mostly for dedication in sanctuaries. The griffin protomes can be quite large and include the earliest Greek hollow-cast bronzes.

This griffin protome, originally attached as part of a set of four or six on the shoulder of a hammered bronze cauldron, is a hollow cast. The forehead supports a projecting peg that terminates in a biconical bead topped by a small pointed element; there is a small roundel beneath the bead. The head and neck exhibit a dense network of textured surface ornament consisting principally of small scales produced by a crescent-shaped punch. These surround a pair of incised curls that descend from the bases of the ears and unfold symmetrically on the lower part of the neck, ending in volute-shaped spirals. These incised locks exhibit groups of four transverse incised lines. The edges of the ears, the raised ridges around the upper and lower beak and the upper and lower jaws, the ridges over the eyes, and the projecting rounded ridges at the base of the ears are all marked by extremely fine, closely placed incised lines. The raised eyebrows above the eyes are emphasized by a pair of incised lines, although areas of corrosion and incrustation have obscured much of this surface ornament. Five rivets, of which four remain, originally fastened the protome to the shoulder of the cauldron.


David G. Mitten

Publication History

  • Ancient Art in American Private Collections, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1954), p. 30, no. 199, pl. 60.
  • J. L. Benson, "Unpublished Griffin Protomes in American Collections", Antike Kunst (1960), Vol. 3, pp. 58-70, appendix.
  • M. Del Chiaro, Greek Art in Private Collections of Southern California, exh. cat., University of California at Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA, 1963), no. 2.
  • David Gordon Mitten, "Two Griffin Protomes", Fogg Art Museum Acquisitions, 1963, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1964), 11-19, fig. 1.
  • David Gordon Mitten and Suzannah F. Doeringer, Master Bronzes from the Classical World, exh. cat., Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz am Rhein, Germany, 1967), p. 73, no. 67.
  • Herbert D. Hoffmann, Collecting Greek Antiquities, C. N. Potter (New York, NY, 1971), p. 66, no. 57.
  • The Frederick M. Watkins Collection, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1973), p. 15-16, no. 1.
  • Hans-Volkmar Herrmann, Die Kessel der Orientalisierenden Zeit, Walter de Gruyter and Co. (Berlin, 1979), p. 113, pl. 46, G.77.
  • David Gordon Mitten and Amy Brauer, Dialogue with Antiquity, The Curatorial Achievement of George M. A. Hanfmann, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1982), p. 13, no. 32.
  • Ulrich Gehrig, Die Greifenprotomen aus dem Heraion von Samos, In Kommission bei Habelt (Bonn, 2004), p. 58, pl. 5, no. 251.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, "Men of Bronze--Cups of Bronze: Bronze in the Iron Age", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 146-69, pp. 158-59, fig. 7.7; cover ill.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), Front and back covers, pp. 158-159, fig. 7.7

Exhibition History

  • Ancient Art in American Private Collections, Fogg Art Museum, 12/28/1954 - 02/15/1955
  • Master Bronzes from the Classical World, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/04/1967 - 01/23/1968; City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, 03/01/1968 - 04/13/1968; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 05/08/1968 - 06/30/1968
  • The Age of Homer, University Museum, University of Philadelphia, 10/10/1969 - 03/14/1970
  • The Frederick M. Watkins Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 01/31/1973 - 03/14/1973
  • Dialogue with Antiquity: The Curatorial Achievement of George M.A. Hanfmann, Fogg Art Museum, 05/07/1982 - 06/26/1982
  • Permanent Galleries of the art of Anatolia, Levant and E. Mediterranean World, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 05/01/1995 - 02/01/1996
  • Re-View: S422 Ancient & Byzantine Art & Numismatics, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/12/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 3400 Greek, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project
  • Collection Highlights
  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

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