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Upper part of a grave stele: seated sphinx (sphinx and capital)
Greek
Archaic Period
about 530 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Marble, either island (sphinx and plinth) or Pentelic (capital)
Dimensions
Height: 141.7 cm (55 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
1931 and 1939 Purchase Funds
Accession Number40.576
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
While in Egyptian art the sphinx, a symbol of royal power, was typically a recumbent male lion with a human head, in the Greek conception it was a hybrid creature with a feline body, wings, and a female head. In Classical mythology the sphinx was a nuisance and a predator, but in art she often took on a more beneficent role as a heraldic and protective symbol, especially at temples and tombs.
Here the sphinx acts as a tomb guardian, perched atop a capital-like ornament that probably crowned a tall rectangular stele decorated in relief with a figure of the deceased and set on an inscribed base. Such monuments were erected in the region around Athens by aristocratic families, often to commemorate youths who met with an early death. For reasons now obscure, most of these grave monuments were destroyed soon after they were made; this fragmentary sculpture has the fresh surface of a work buried not long after its creation. Particularly remarkable is the extensive pre-servation of polychrome painted decoration. Although most stone sculpture was painted in antiquity, colors as vivid as these rarely survive to the present.
The lithe body of the sphinx is vibrant with potential motion: her tail curls over her haunches, and her wings rise in stylized curves, echoing the volutes of the ornamental support. Her head, now missing, would have turned to face the viewer, displaying the features of a young woman. The carving is precise and crisp, with the details of the breast feathers, wings, and hair, as well as the geometric and floral motifs on the support, carved in delicate relief and brought out with color: black for the hair; green, black, red, and blue for the feathers; red and black for the designs on the support.
Here the sphinx acts as a tomb guardian, perched atop a capital-like ornament that probably crowned a tall rectangular stele decorated in relief with a figure of the deceased and set on an inscribed base. Such monuments were erected in the region around Athens by aristocratic families, often to commemorate youths who met with an early death. For reasons now obscure, most of these grave monuments were destroyed soon after they were made; this fragmentary sculpture has the fresh surface of a work buried not long after its creation. Particularly remarkable is the extensive pre-servation of polychrome painted decoration. Although most stone sculpture was painted in antiquity, colors as vivid as these rarely survive to the present.
The lithe body of the sphinx is vibrant with potential motion: her tail curls over her haunches, and her wings rise in stylized curves, echoing the volutes of the ornamental support. Her head, now missing, would have turned to face the viewer, displaying the features of a young woman. The carving is precise and crisp, with the details of the breast feathers, wings, and hair, as well as the geometric and floral motifs on the support, carved in delicate relief and brought out with color: black for the hair; green, black, red, and blue for the feathers; red and black for the designs on the support.
Catalogue Raisonné
Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 017; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 106 (additional published references); Highlights: Classical Art (MFA), p. 159.
DescriptionSphinx and plinth were carved in island marble separately from the Pentelic marble capital. This plinth was let into a socket at the top of the capital and secured in a bed of molten lead. There is a large socket on the underside of the capital, with a pour hole from the back side. The abacus and the base of the capital are flush with the volutes, and all surfaces have been smoothed, except the plinth of the sphinx, which shows point or punch marks.
The sphinx crouches to the right, with hind-quarters lifted and head turned to the front. The end of her curving tail rests on her right haunch. The hair, originally black, is shown as a mass descending to the shoulders and divided vertically and horizontally by grooves. The feathers of the wings are carved in relief and were painted alternately green, black, red, and blue. The feathers on the breast form a scale pattern, painted in alternate rows of red and green. The rib of each wing and the flat molding at the top of each foreleg are green.
The capital is of lyre design, consisting of two double volutes, with palmettes in all the interstices. It is open in the center and richly decorated with incised and painted designs. The front and ends of the base are enriched with a delicately carved guilloche. The abacus has four-pointed stars set on three-petaled palmettes, three in front and one on each end. The outer sides of the volutes are incised and painted with a large lotus and palmette pattern. Alternating red and black colors complement the form, carving and incision.
Sphinx and capital have been broken into a number of pieces and rejoined, with slight restorations at the joins. There is more restoration in the lower part of the capital than elsewhere, but this is to a great extent supplanted by an extra piece acquired nearly twenty years after the original purchase was first undertaken. The surfaces are very fresh. The fragments with the parts of the dedicatory inscription have the handsome golden yellow patina of the best Pentelic marble.
See: 40.724a-b for inscribed fragments.
See also Cls. Inv. 186.
Nov. 2012: please note that Cls. Inv. 186 is actually 40.724b.
The sphinx crouches to the right, with hind-quarters lifted and head turned to the front. The end of her curving tail rests on her right haunch. The hair, originally black, is shown as a mass descending to the shoulders and divided vertically and horizontally by grooves. The feathers of the wings are carved in relief and were painted alternately green, black, red, and blue. The feathers on the breast form a scale pattern, painted in alternate rows of red and green. The rib of each wing and the flat molding at the top of each foreleg are green.
The capital is of lyre design, consisting of two double volutes, with palmettes in all the interstices. It is open in the center and richly decorated with incised and painted designs. The front and ends of the base are enriched with a delicately carved guilloche. The abacus has four-pointed stars set on three-petaled palmettes, three in front and one on each end. The outer sides of the volutes are incised and painted with a large lotus and palmette pattern. Alternating red and black colors complement the form, carving and incision.
Sphinx and capital have been broken into a number of pieces and rejoined, with slight restorations at the joins. There is more restoration in the lower part of the capital than elsewhere, but this is to a great extent supplanted by an extra piece acquired nearly twenty years after the original purchase was first undertaken. The surfaces are very fresh. The fragments with the parts of the dedicatory inscription have the handsome golden yellow patina of the best Pentelic marble.
See: 40.724a-b for inscribed fragments.
See also Cls. Inv. 186.
Nov. 2012: please note that Cls. Inv. 186 is actually 40.724b.
ProvenanceSaid to have been found in Vari, near Sounio, Greece [see note 1]. July 23, 1930, sold by Edward Zoumpoulakis (dealer), Athens, to Brummer Gallery, New York (stock no. P7165); 1940, sold by Brummer Gallery to the MFA for $65,000 [see note 2]. (Accession Date: October 10, 1940)
NOTES: [1] According to the Brummer Gallery stock card. [2] Acquired with MFA accession nos. 40.724a and 40.724b.
NOTES: [1] According to the Brummer Gallery stock card. [2] Acquired with MFA accession nos. 40.724a and 40.724b.