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Relief fragment of frog and support, top view. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Relief Fragment of Frog and Support
Report 2: Sculpture from Sardis: The Finds through 1975
(1978)
Cat. 43
- Date
- Lydian?
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- NoEx71.003
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Sculpture
- Sculpture Type
- Animal
- Site
- Sardis?
- Findspot
- Brought on July 5, 1971, by Muammer Aksoy.
- Description
- The soft and simple treatment of the frog’s body is very effective. This simplicity (from above the frog looks like an archaic lion) and the very straight line down the spine suggest an archaic monument. The channel might indicate that the piece was an attachment for a fountain, as in the bronze frog-lion group from Samos. C.H. Greenewalt, Jr. suggests, however, a statuary group from an allegorical representation of Batrachomyomachy; see the stele of Archelaos of Priene, portraying Homer, where two mice represent the Batrachomyomachy (D. Pinkwart, Archelaos, 57, 59, pl. 29 and idem., Musen des Philiskos, 15, pl. 1).
- Condition
Grayish coarse-grained “local” marble.
Body and legs on r. side of frog or toad. Tip of head, l. legs, rear tip of body missing. The piece was placed on a half-base, with a channel-like hollow. This hollow was to house a metal piece for support and attachment.
- Dimensions
- P.L. 0.13; max. W. 0.09; max. H. 0.057-0.06.
- Comments
- On frogs, cf. Samos bronze frog: Buschor, Altsamische Grabstelen, 15, figs. 212-216; Richter, Animals, 87, fig. 232, coin of Seriphos (?), 500 B.C. R. Nicholls, Recent Acquisitions, fig. 10; Keller, 298; M. Wellman, RE, 1327.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Author
- GMAH