Patera (shallow bowl) Handle in the Form of a Lion
late 6th century BCE
Description
This handle for a patera, a shallow cup-shaped vessel, is in the form of an outstretched leaping lion. The handle consists of larger palmetted-shaped end which the lion rests its forepaws, and the smaller, heart-shaped end provides a base for the lion's hindlegs. The hindlegs are formed as a single element, probably for stability. The head is carefully modelled, with a rippled snout, lips, eyebrows, ears, and mane.
Dimensions
Greatest extension: 22.3 cm (8 3/4 in.) Volutes: 6.7 cm (2 5/8 in.)
Provenance
Dr. Leo Mildenberg, Zurich, Switzerland, (by 1999-2001), bequest; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2004.
Related Artworks
View MoreEnameled porcelain: porcelain with coral-red overglaze enamel
18th-19th centuryChineseLight gray stoneware with decoration cold-painted in brown and yellow pigments over white gesso ground
3rd-1st century BCEChineseJizhou ware: ivory white stoneware with decoration reserved in the biscuit against the dark brown glaze, the reserved designs covered with clear glaze over slip-painted details, selected details incised through the brown glaze. From the Jizhou kilns near Yonghe, Ji'an, Jiangxi province.
13th-14th centuryChineseTerracotta
5th century BCEGreekTerracotta, with bronze attachment
5th century BCEGreekEarthenware with applique decoration
3rd millennium BCEChineseColorless glass
1st-3rd century CERomanSilver
19th centuryBritishTerracotta; pale yellow clay with slip, blackish-brown paint and applied purple
7th-6th century BCEGreekMetal
Terracotta
4th century BCEGreekTerracotta