Glass plaque with sphinx
Unknown Artist
Translucent cobalt blue, backed with opaque light blue.
Rectangular flat plaque, with major axis horizontal; beveled edges, grozed at back; flat underside.
Decoration in relief: seated winged sphinx in profile facing right, wearing diadem on head, with long wing extending over back and curling up at tip and long curling tail. On back, undecorated layer of light blue.
Broken and repaired, complete except for chip in undreside; dulling, iridescence, and thin whitish weathering.
Made in the same mold as 81.10.156 and 17.194.563.
These three relief plaques, decorated with the figure of a crouching sphinx, were all made in the same mold. They probably formed part of the inlay decoration to a piece of furniture.
Credit: Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
1st century A.D.
Glass; cast in an open mold in two layers
4.1 x 4.9 cm
81.10.155
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection
