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Glazed bowl with a running sphinx
Byzantine
Byzantine
first half of the 13th century
Object Place: Middle East, Byzantine
Medium/Technique
Ceramic; Sgraffito technique enriched with a yellowish brown color; Sardis Zeuxippus Ware
Dimensions
Height x diameter: 8.9 × 20.3 cm (3 1/2 × 8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Harold W. Bell
Accession Number42.51
CollectionsEurope
DescriptionRed clay. Low ring base, hemispherical body with vertical concave rim with a ridge between the rim and the body and in the center of the rim; flat lip. The white slip is enriched with a yellow-brown colour. A stylized sphinx fills the interior surface of this bowl. His raised forearm indicates he is moving forward. The incised lines that make up his body are fluid and give him a sense of fast-paced movement. Rather than facing forward, the sphinx looks out of the bowl with wide open eyes. In Byzantium, sphinxes, with the heads of humans and bodies of lions, were understood to be wonders.
This bowl was discovered in the excavations of the so-called “Church M” located in the Hellenistic Temple of Artemis at Sardis in western Asia Minor, an important ancient city, even still in the 13th century. It was likely made locally.
This bowl was discovered in the excavations of the so-called “Church M” located in the Hellenistic Temple of Artemis at Sardis in western Asia Minor, an important ancient city, even still in the 13th century. It was likely made locally.
ProvenanceBetween 1910 and 1914, excavated at Sardis, under the auspices of the American Society for the Excavation of Sardis, by Harold Wilmerding Bell (b. 1885 - d. 1947), Boston [see note]; 1942, gift of Harold W. Bell to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 14, 1942)
NOTE: First lent to the MFA in 1915.
NOTE: First lent to the MFA in 1915.