Relief with Two Griffins Attacking a Deer

Beige in color, a slip of light-yellow diluted clay, with foil gilding.

The relief is partially preserved, in two fragments.

– 1980, David Swingler (Santa Monica, CA), donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1980.

Unpublished.

The two fragments, identifiable as a Tarentine appliqué, still show extensive traces of the original gilding. The first fragment preserves only the body of a griffin with truncated back legs; the second fragment depicts a griffin in a symmetrical position, in the act of clutching with its left front claw a fallen animal, perhaps a stag, only the back part of whose body is still preserved. The griffin holds its prey still with its right back claw as it sinks its fangs into the animal’s back. The attachment of the griffin’s right front claw to the animal’s body forms an eyehole that was probably used to attach the relief to the sarcophagus.¹

Notes