2022.285: Head of the Gorgon Medusa from a Funerary Vessel
Sculpture
This object does not yet have a description.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 2022.285
- Title
- Head of the Gorgon Medusa from a Funerary Vessel
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Work Type
- sculpture
- Date
- 3rd century BCE
- Places
- Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Apulia
- Period
- Hellenistic period, Early
- Culture
- South Italian
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/377056
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Terracotta with remains of white slip
- Technique
- Mold-made
- Dimensions
- H. 19.3 × W. 15.6 × D. 7.6 cm (7 5/8 × 6 1/8 × 3 in.)
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
-
Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin [1], Paris, (by 1890-1911), sold; to William A. Clark [2], New York, (by 1911-1925), bequest; to Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., (1926-2018) [3], transferred; to American University Museum, Washington, D.C., (2018-2021), sold; [through Sands of Time, Washington, D.C.]; to Harvard Art Museums, 2022.
1. Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin (1850-1916)
2. William Andrews Clark (1839-1925)
3. Following the closure of the Corcoran Gallery in 2014, its collections were physically transferred to the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.); the Corcoran Board of Trustees retained ownership until the collections were officially transferred to and accessioned into other museums’ collections (in 2018, in this case).
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Kelekian Fund
- Accession Year
- 2022
- Object Number
- 2022.285
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
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Descriptions
- Description
- Depiction of the head of the Gorgon Medusa in relief. Curling and waving hair frames a rounded, symmetrical face, which is frontal to the viewer. At the cheeks, snake heads emerge from Medusa's hair. White slip covers the surface, and traces of pigment are visible in the lips. From an applique on an Canosan funerary vessel, likely an askos. Mended from three fragments.
Publication History
- Corcoran Gallery of Art, ed., Illustrated handbook of the W. A. Clark collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, 1928), p. 116, no. 2634
- Corcoran Gallery of Art, ed., Illustrated handbook of the W.A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, 1932), p.114, no.2634
Exhibition History
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