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Sphinx
Italic, Etruscan
Archaic Period
about 540 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Nenfro
Dimensions
Height x length: 46.5 x 56 cm (18 5/16 x 22 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Horace L. Mayer
Accession Number63.2759
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
DescriptionThe statue depicts a sphinx (creature with feline body, wings and human female head), presumably seated on her hind legs. Although headless, with most of the legs, haunches, and plinth missing, this sphinx is a masterful example of Etruscan carving. The curled wing (not hollowed), the broad breastbone (with necklace and stylized lines of the forelegs), and the hair arranged in regular plaits down the back of the neck reminds of Greek sculpture.
The sphinx has a light brown patina, with rough surfaces.
The sphinx has a light brown patina, with rough surfaces.
ProvenanceProbably from Vulci. November, 1963, sold by Robert E. Hecht, Jr., Boston, to Horace L. Mayer (b. 1899 - d. 1968), Williamstown, MA; 1963, year-end gift of Horace Mayer to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 26, 1963)
NOTE: According to Hecht, he purchased this in 1956 from Count Sottolimeno of Livorno, to whose family it had belonged for three generations. This information has not been verified.
NOTE: According to Hecht, he purchased this in 1956 from Count Sottolimeno of Livorno, to whose family it had belonged for three generations. This information has not been verified.