- Description
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Egyptian terracotta coffin-fitting in shape of lion-gryphon. A coffin- attachment, flat at the back, in the form of a male gryphon to right. It has a lion’s head with a crest on the neck; the right foreleg is extended (but largely lost) and the left one raised; both the back legs are broken. Its recurved wing springs from its chest, short tail. Pressed into a one-piece mould. The front is covered with a worn white dressing, painted yellow. Brown Nile silt. Figure walking to right; legs broken.
- Production date
- 332BC-250BC
- Curator's comments
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Object owned and held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This record is included in the British Museum database as part of the Museum’s Naukratis Project, a research collaboration that aims to virtually re-unite finds from the ancient port city of Naukratis, now distributed over 80 museums worldwide.
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This is a common form of early Ptolemaic terracotta coffin-fitting, from a wooden coffin, found in the cemetery north of the settlement during the Egypt Exploration Fund’s second season at Naukratis (Gardner 1888, 11, 21-27, pl.16; Walters 1903, C569; Watzinger 1905, 60-1; Parlasca 2001, 177, n. 17; Bailey 2008, 129, nos 3483-4). At least three mould series of Lion-Griffin (or winged lion) were found in Naukratis the group 1 and 2 are difficult to distinguish, with slight differences in size and wing shape (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 88.808 and 88.807; City Art Gallery and Museum, Bristol H2264.2; British Museum GR 1888,0601.137 and GR 1888,0601.132; Parlasca 2001, pl. 25: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford AN1888.234, AN1888.233 and AN1888.232; University College London Institute of Archaeology, UCL1932, UCL1341and UCL1930) and a crude group 3 (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum GR.7.1887 and GR.23.1887). Pieces, probably from the same series and said to be from Naukratis include parallels sold on the art market (Sotheby’s New York Sale Catalogues, 18 June 1991, lot 84, and 31 May 1997, lot 99, 2 examples; Parlasca 2001, pls 26 and 27.3-4 from the art market in Paris). All were coated with white, painted yellow and normally have traces of gilding. Fabric is consistent with Nile Delta silt fabric, and Naukratis production is most likely as coffin-fitting moulds have been found there (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford AN1896- 1908-E.4804, boukranion mould).
However, parallels have been found in the cemetery of nearby Kom Firin (Leclant 1952, 247, fig. 30; Farid 1973, Kom Firin Tomb G7, JE 89426; Spencer 2008, 12, seven examples), suggest these had a wider distribution and possibly other production centres. Various coffin-fitting types were used on each wooden coffin (Coffin-fittings GR 1888,0601.131-135 were from one coffin; GR1888,0601.136-9, GR1888,0601.141 and GR1926,0624.9 were from another wooden coffin).
Basta, M. 1979, ‘Excavations West of Kôm Firin (1966–1967)’, Chronique d'Egypte Bruxelles 54, 183–96.
Breccia, E. 1912, Musée d'Alexandrie, La necropoli di Sciatbi, Cairo.
Breccia, E. 1930, Terrecotte figurate greche e greco-egizie del Museo di Alessandria I, Bergamo.
Choucri, S. A. 2003, Trois saisons de fouilles dans la vaste nécropole de Silvago, dans le gouvernorat de Béheira, in Z. Hawass (ed.), Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first century. Proceedings of the 8th International Congress of Egyptologists, I: Archaeology, Cairo, 123−9.
el-Fattah, A. Abd and Georges, C. 2007, Le panthéon égyptien gréco- romain à la lumière des fouilles menées dans la zone du Delta ouest, in J. Goyon and C. Cardin (eds), Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Egyptologists. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 150, Leuven, 21–32.
Farid, S. 1973, ‘Preliminary Report on the Excavations of the Antiquities Department at Kôm Abu Billo’, Annales du Service des antiquités de l’Égypte 61, 21–6.
Leclant, J. 1952, Fouilles et travaux en Egypte (1950-1951), Orientalia 21, 239.
Pagenstecher, R. 1913, Die griechische- äegyptische Sammlung Ernst von Sieglin, part III, Gefässe in Stein und Ton; Knochenschitzereien, Leipzig.
Parlasca, K. 2001, ‘Griechische Grabkunst ägyptens in hellenistischer Zeit’, in U. Höckmann and D. Kreikenbom (eds), Naukratis, die Beziehungen zu Ostgriechenland, Ägypten und Zypern in archaischer Zeit, Paderborn, 175–182.
Spencer, N. 2008, Kom Firin I: The Ramesside Temple and the Site Survey. British Museum Research Publications 170, London.
Watzinger, C. 1905, Griechische Holzsarcophage aus der Zeit Alexanders des Grossen, Leipzig.
- Location
- Not on display
- Department
- External
- Additional IDs
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Miscellaneous number: 88.808 (Accession Number)
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Miscellaneous number: P.5699 (Pottery & Porcelain Ledger No.)