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Walking lion, Manisa 306, left side. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College) -
Walking lion, Manisa 306, right side. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Marble Sculpture of a Walking Lion
Report 2: Sculpture from Sardis: The Finds through 1975
(1978)
Cat. 38
- Date
- Ca. 350-330 BC, Late Lydian (Persian)
- Museum
- Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, 306
- Museum Inventory No.
- 306
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- Manisa 306
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Sculpture
- Sculpture Type
- Animal
- Site
- Sardis?
- Findspot
- "Salihli." As Salihli has no Lydian antiquities of its own, this provenance usually indicates Sardis or vicinity.
- Description
- The large rounded muscles of the shoulders, body, and hind legs are shown in motion. The mane had a halo-like arrangement radiating around the face, then descending in a triangle over the chest. Upright head and entire chest were turned to his r. A back mane reaches halfway down the spine. The "curving lancet" locks have three to four grooves and are deeply drilled on the neck and chest. The powerful motion and “excited" style are characteristic of a number of lions of the "Mausoleum Phase'' and the following decades. The piece dates to ca. 350-330 B.C. Despite the drill work it does not seem Roman.
- Condition
Marble
Face lost; legs below shoulder lost; surface battered and overgrown with lichen.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.66; L. 0.98.
- Comments
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Cf. Willemsen, Lowenkopf-Wasserspeier, 4, 51ff., 58, pls. 55:2, 57:2, 62f. For the chest locks, see ibid., pl. 56, British Museum 1080, Mausoleum.
- Author
- GMAH