Greek Bronze Griffin

An ancient Greek bronze griffin protome with the stylized head of an eagle, beak agape revealing the tongue, with incised neck, affixed to bronze rods that once were part of a tripod.

Ca. 6th century BC.

Length: 4 1⁄4 in. (10.8 cm).

Bronze cauldrons set on tripods were often votive gifts dedicated in Greek sanctuaries and temples. Cast-bronze griffins’ heads often decorated the cauldron rims facing outward from the shoulder of the vessel on long necks made of hammered or cast bronze. This griffin protome is thought to join a fragment in the collection of the French School of Classical Studies in Athens, no. 135, pl. 45 in Rolley.

Formelry in an English private collection; with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1988; John Kluge collection, Virginia; The Morven Collection of Ancient Art, Christie's, New York, June 8, 2004, lot 382.

Exhibited: From Olympus to the Underworld, Ancient Bronzes from the Kluge Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (1996).

Published: C. Vermeule and J. Eisenberg, Catalogue of the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Bronzes in the Collection of John Kluge, (New York and Boston, 1995), no. 93-05.

Inv#: 9349

Guaranteed Authentic

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