SculptureIranian12th-13th century

Seated Lion

12th-13th century

Description

A free-standing, three-dimensional feline, seated on a flat base, is here rendered in ceramic and covered in opaque turquoise glaze. With no under-or over-glaze painting, the features are suggested through relief modeling. The disproportionately large head is dominated overall by the bulbous nose, muzzle, and brow ridges, and is positioned to look straight ahead through protruding triangular eyes. Closed at the center, the mouth gaps open at the corners in a grimace. The lion's tail curls under and over its left haunch. The figure is hollow and shows no openings in its present state of conservation.

Classification

Sculpture

Medium

Fritware, opaque turquoise glaze

Culture

Iranian

Period

Seljuk-Atabeg period

Century

12th-13th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

40.6 x 17.8 x 33 cm (16 x 7 x 13 in.) boxed: 46.7 x 48.9 x 33.7 cm (18 3/8 x 19 1/4 x 13 1/4 in.)

Provenance

Edwin Binney, 3rd, California (by 1986), bequest; to Harvard Art Museums, 2012. NOTE: Stored at the San Diego Museum of Art from some time before 1986 until 1991, then at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1991-2011.