Archaic II
Limestone figure holding a mask
This remarkable work shows a male figure holding the mask of a lion against his head with his left hand. Unlike the three-dimensional masks in 74.51.2538 and 74.51.2515, this one is quite flat. Votive clay masks of lions are known from Cyprus and the Levant beginning in the eleventh century B.C. They may have some relation to the Egyptian goddess Sehkmet or may represent the most ferocious of beasts. WebPub GR 2012 Cesnola: 9 3/8 in., 2 lb. (23.8 cm)
Date
550 - 500 BC
Accession No.
74.51.2505
Collection
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Provenance
- Sanctuary of Golgoi-Ayios Photios
References
- Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1885. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 1. pl. LVII.381, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 1031, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Sophocleous, Sophocles. 1985. ""Atlas des représentations chypro-archaiques des divinités." Master's Diss.." Master's Diss. no. 5, p. 19. Paul Aströms Förlag.Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 196, pp. 130-1, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Hermary, Antoine and Joan R. Mertens. 2013. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Stone Sculpture. no. 250, p. 198, Online Publication, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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