• r2-42-10
    Sphinx, probably from a throne, Manisa 21, left side. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • r2-42-20
    Sphinx, probably from a throne, Manisa 21, front. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Sphinx, Probably from a Throne

Date
4th or 3rd C. BC?, Late Lydian (Persian)?
Museum
Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, 21
Museum Inventory No.
21
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
Manisa 21
Material
Marble, Stone
Object Type
Sculpture
Sculpture Type
Animal
Site
Sardis
Findspot
Sardis
Description

Unlike Cat. 41 (Figs. 142-143), this sphinx is made in one piece with the lower back part of the throne. The body is partly in the round (at the front and on top) and partly in relief and, unlike Cat. 41, the relief background extends under the body to the forelegs. The sphinx sits on its haunches. The thin sickle-shaped l. wing sweeps up to the flat surface where the seat was lodged. Slightly incised, fan- (or scale-) shaped feathers on the back move into the upswing of long feathers. The chest is rounded. A ribbon (?) is tied around the neck as a necklace; the two ends of the ribbon (not visible in side view) appear below a circular pendant. The top is a flat oval surface (0.42 by 0.20) with anathyrosis (W. 0.13) at the back.

On the sides, the lower back part of the throne is indicated by a raised area which meets the relief background in a flat chiseled edge (0.03 on slant) forming an obtuse angle. The tail of the sphinx, with its thickened tuft resembling the head of a bird or snake, ends at the apex of this angle after rising in an S-curve. The relief background is 0.025 deeper than the raised part.

As there are no technical signs of late work, the piece may be late classical or early Hellenistic, but such pieces are found as late as the early Roman Imperial period.

Condition

Grayish, not completely crystallized "half-marble."

Head and forelegs of sphinx broken off.

Dimensions
P.H. 0.47; L. 0. 73. Sphinx: W. at chest 0.21; L. 0.57; P.H. 0.35.
Comments
See Also
Bibliography
The division of the front and back is shown on the sides of Greek and Roman thrones, cf. Richter, Furniture of the Greeks, 100f., figs. 134, 501f. For the placing of animals on thrones with solid sides and oval plan, cf. ibid., 30, 100, figs. 129, 135, 495 (the last is a seated sphinx on a votive relief from Thyrea, National Museum, Athens, no. 1390, 4th C. B.C.?). A number of these parallels are late classical and early Hellenistic. For earlier Lydian example cf. Cat. 239 (Figs. 416-418).
Author
GMAH