Relief sculpture from the Harpy Tomb, north side
- Title:
- Relief sculpture from the Harpy Tomb, north side
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown
- Photographer:
- Alexandridis, Annetta
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
ca. 480–470 BCE
2009 (image)
- Site:
- Xanthos, Turkey (original)
- Location:
- Klarman Hall, first floor, north end
previously, Warehouse
Xanthos, Turkey (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0214
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 82
1.c incised on top left edge front
Goldwin Smith Hall basement7 in black marker on back
214 - File Name:
- CCC_0214.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 102.5 (H) x 61 (W) cm
- Culture:
- Lycian
- Style/Period:
- Greek Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in relief (original) - Subject:
- Sepulchral Monuments
Xanthos (Ancient city)
Sirens (Mythology) - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 102 x 56 x 5 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a cast of a half-woman, half-bird figure from the viewer's right side of the north face of the Harpy Tomb at Xanthos, a tomb perhaps built for the Lycian ruler Kybernis. The figure is one of two located on the north side of the tomb that have been conjecturally identified as Sirens (as opposed to their original identification as harpies), and that flank a central offering scene (see ID nos. 219 and 208). Here, a composite figure with the head, arms, and breasts of a woman and the wings, egg-shaped body, talons, and tail of a bird is shown in profile facing and flying right. She wears a diadem and her hair is depicted in wavy, archaic locks, and twisted up in the back. Her chest is bare, but a loose chiton sleeve covers her visible arm. Her outstretched wings are located behind her human arms. Below the visible arm is a bird's talon. With her arms and visible talon she grips to her chest a small-scale woman, who perhaps represents a human soul. The diminutive woman, who wears a crinkled chiton and a narrow headband, faces the Siren, looks up at her, and reaches up to her with her far hand. Her near arm falls limply at her side. Long, wavy locks fall behind her head. Below this pair, a second small-scale woman sits on the ground looking up at them in a posture of mourning with her hands at her cheeks. She wears a loose, crinkled chiton and a narrow headband. Long, archaic locks fall down her back. The Harpy Tomb, also referred to as the Harpy Monument, took the form of a sculpted square marble chamber tomb atop a tall limestone pillar and was one of many decorative Lycian tombs set atop tall bases. The marble chamber was removed from the limestone pillar and taken to the British Museum in 1842, where it is displayed today. A replica of the relief-carved chamber is in place on the original pillar at the site of Xanthos.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. 1848,1020.1 - Bibliography:
- Christin Rudolph, Das 'Harpyien-Monument' von Xanthos: seine Bedeutung innerhalb der spätarchaischen Plastik. BAR International Series 1108 (Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd., 2003)
F. J. Tritsch, "The Harpy Tomb at Xanthus," JHS 62 (1942), 39-50
Ian Jenkins, Greek Architecture and its Sculpture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), 163-168 - Related Work:
- The north side of the Harpy Tomb is composed of three casts: ID nos. 219, 208, and 214.
- Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
London, British Museum (original) - 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.