About This Artwork

Greek, Attica

Pair of Griffin Protomes, Orientalizing Period, late 7th-early 6th century B.C.

Bronze with bone or ivory inlay
20.3 x 7 x 8.9 cm (8 x 2 3/4 x 3 1/2 in.)
Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund, 1994.38.1-2

Ancient and Byzantine Art
Not on Display

In the seventh century B.C., a Greek traveler in Central Asia encountered nomads who told of ferocious griffins with feline bodies and bird heads that guarded gold. Although the story may have been concocted to frighten away treasure hunters, it is not entirely fantastic; in their travels, these nomadic peoples probably came across well-preserved, fossilized remains of beaked and horned dinosaurs (psittacosaurs) in fields strewn with gold nuggets eroded from local mountains. Admired for its protective properties, the monstrous griffin entered the Greek visual repertory by the seventh century; here it appears in a pair of protomes (attachments) that were once fastened on the shoulder of a ceremonial vessel.