• r2-235-10
    Lion sejant from Nannas monument, Metropolitan Museum of Art 26.59.9, right profile. (Photograph courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Gift of The American Society for the Excavation of Sardis, 1926)
  • r2-235-15
    Lion sejant from Nannas monument, in situ in 1914, left side (Howard Crosby Butler Archive, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University)
  • r2-235-20
    Lion sejant in situ in Nannas Monument, 1914 (Howard Crosby Butler Archive, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University)
  • r2-235-30
    Assemblage of sculptures from the Nannas Monument (Howard Crosby Butler Archive, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University)
  • r2-235-40
    Lion sejant from Nannas monument, Metropolitan Museum of Art 26.59.9, back. (Photograph courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Gift of The American Society for the Excavation of Sardis, 1926)

Lion Sejant From Nannas Monument

Report 2: Sculpture from Sardis: The Finds through 1975 (1978) Cat. 235
Date
Ca. 500 BC, Late Lydian (Persian)
Museum
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 26.59.9
Museum Inventory No.
26.59.9
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
MMA 26.59.9
Material
Marble, Stone
Object Type
Sculpture
Sculpture Type
Animal, Lion
Site
Sardis
Sector
AT
Trench
AT
Locus
AT Nannas Monument
Findspot
Sardis, 1913. Part of Nannas monument, Artemis Precinct. The piece was probably not reused by Nannas in the 4th C. B.C. but only in the Roman restoration of the precinct. Cf. Cat. 274 (Figs. 465-466); Sardis R1, 62, 64, 68.
Description
The lion is seated in a frontal position. The tail loops under the hindquarters and over the left haunch. The mane has long wavy locks ending slightly down the back, less deeply cut than Synagogue lions (Cat. 25A, Cat. 25B Figs. 92-101). The style is archaic. Richter (Catalogue of Greek Sculptures, 7) suggests a date of ca. 500 B.C. or a little earlier on the basis of style of modeling and the stylization of the mane.
Condition

Marble.

Missing almost all of forelegs, parts of hind legs, left side of head, most of plinth. Surface chipped and battered, covered with hard incrustation.

Dimensions
H. 0.413; L. 1.04
Comments
See Also
Bibliography
Published: Sardis I, 125f., ill. 137. Richter, Catalogue Greek Sculptures, no. 6, pl. 9; H.C. Butler, Fourth Campaign, 474; Richter Handbook, 69, Pl. 50 e; Shear, Lion, 128ff., figs. 3, in situ, 4, 9, with comparisons; mentioned in Hanfmann, Rayonnement, 497; von Gall, Felsgraber, 589, fig. 4; Lazzarini and Marconi, New Analysis, 122-124.
Author
NHR

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