Lion

Place of OriginEgypt

DateLate Period, Dynasty 30-Early Roman Period, 380 BCE-50 CE

Dimensions5 1/8 × 4 1/8 × 11 3/8 in. (13 × 10.5 × 28.9 cm)

MediumBronze

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1950.9

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

Label TextEgyptian culture associated pharaohs with animals noted for their strength; in early Egyptian art, for example, the king is often shown wearing the tail of a bull. The lion also had strong royal connotations, which may have inspired this image. The same idea drove the frequent depiction of the pharaoh as a sphinx, a creature combining the king’s face with the body of a lion.Published References

"Fiftieth Anniversary," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 130, Nov.-Dec. 1951, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1966, repr. p. 4

Luckner, Kurt T., "The Art of Egypt, Part 2," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 14, no. 3, Fall 1971, p. 75, repr.

Peck, William H., Sandra E. Knudsen and Paula Reich, Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2011, p. 90, repr. (col.).

Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, October 29, 2010-January 8, 2012.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Agyptische Altertumer aus der Skulpturensammlung Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Ausstellung im Albertinum, Mai 1977; p. 37, nos. 34-36, pls. 84-85.

cf. Müller H.W., "Löwenskulpturen in der Ägyptischen Sammlung des Bayerischen Staats," Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst, Dritte Folge Band XVI, 1965, pp. 7-46.

cf. Jones, H. Stuart (ed.), A Catalogue of the Ancient Sculptures Preserved in the Municipal Collections of Rom, The Sculptures of the Museo Capitolino, Oxford, 1912, p. 358, nos. 8, 9, pl. 90, nos. 8, 9.