Bronze attachment in the form of a lion head

The attachment is in the form of a lion protome and belongs to a double moveable handle. The head is rendered in low relief and it is framed by the forefeet. At the top two rings, cast together with the protome, hold the moveable handles of a cylindrical kados (situla). At this level rivets will have attached the projecting crown and the vertical wall of the vase. The rear surface, beyond the unified slot just below the rings that held the crown, has two more, 0,015m. in length, at the level of the eyes. In the lower part it is cut off abruptly so that the feet are left, as it were, hanging in space.

Anatomical details are rendered plastically and by engraving. The mane crowns the forehead symmetrically with flame-like locks. The semicircle of the crown continues with two large ears in relief. The rendition of the mane corresponds to many bronze works of the last quarter of the 6th century BC Large hemi-spherical eyelids cover the eyeball. Folds of skin on the muzzle are shown as concentric, curving engraved lines. The paws too are plastically rendered. The type of attachment recalls the much earlier piece from Olympia, mentioned above, and an attachment from Delphi of developed archaic times. Most features of the attachment, however, are paralleled on Le 215 from Olympia (01. Forsch. XX, 203, pl. 33, fig. 135) of 500 BC In addition to the oval outline of the head and the rendering of the details ,

PUBLICATION
– Adreiomenou A. 2006. Cataloque no. 126, in Choremi-Spetsieri Α. – Zarkadas Α. (eds), The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum. Ancient Art, Athens, 204.