Temple of Zeus at Olympia, lion water spout
- Title:
- Temple of Zeus at Olympia, lion water spout
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
ca. 470–456 BCE
2008 (image)
- Site:
- Olympia, Greece (discovery site) (original)
- Location:
- Goldwin Smith Hall (Room 122), Cornell University
Olympia, Greece (discovery site) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0737
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 126
126 c (new sticker)
198 - File Name:
- CCC_0737.tif
- Culture:
- Greek
- Style/Period:
- Early Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble relief (sculpture technique) (original) - Subject:
- Lions
- Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 48 x 77 x 44 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a reasonably well-preserved cast of a lion's head water spout from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and a small section of the sima from which the spout projects. The front row of the lion's mane is depicted in triple-ridged spikes with additional, saw tooth-shaped rows behind it. His ears are round and are partially obscured behind his mane. The lion's eyes are somewhat beady and are deep- and close-set. The brow is furrowed with a broad central ridge at the top of the squared nose and v-shaped ridges lower on the nose. His squared muzzle has incised whiskers. His mouth is open, his teeth are bared, and his spoon-shaped tongue projects forward. This lion is most similar to Willemsen's U 40 and U 42, which he places within the original series of lions produced to adorn the Temple of Zeus. He dates these in the second quarter of the fifth century BCE.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
- Bibliography:
- Franz Willemsen, Die Löwenkopf-Wasserspeier vom Dach des Zeustempels, OlForsch IV (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter and Co., 1959), 30-31, pls. 19-20
Madeleine Mertens-Horn, Die Löwenkopf-Wasserspeier des griechischen Westens im 6. und 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. (Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1988) - Repository:
- Unknown (possibly Olympia, Archaeological Musem or Berlin)
- Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.