Newsletter: Winter /Spring 2006

[This is a ] cast bronze head of a griffin, a fantastic creature with a feline body and the face of an eagle. Dating to the early years of the sixth century B.C., this griffin originally was one of three identical protomes, or head-and-neck combinations, decorating the shoulder of a hammered bronze cauldron, examples of which have been found at sanctuaries throughout the Greek world. The sinuous neck is more like that of a serpent than a bird of prey, and the hammered marks covering its surface resemble scales rather than feathers. The slender proportions, tall ears, and bud-shaped terminal on the knob rising from the head-a common feature of Greek griffins-are characteristic of griffin protomes from the sanctuary of Hera on the island of Samos, and at other Greek sites of the eastern Aegean.