Greek, South Italian, Tarentine, second half of the 4th century B.C.

Gilt terracotta

L: 15.8 cm (6.2 in)

Serial: 28518

One of the best preserved Tarentine terracotta appliqués with gilding belongs to this thematical group representing the combat between the griffins and the Arimaspi. Both being mythological creatures, the griffin, the fantastic beast combining a lion’s body with an eagle’s head and wings, was thought to guard treasures and gold in remote lands, and the Arimaspi, the legendary one-eyed people, who inhabited northern Scythia who sought to steal the gold the griffins guarded. The warrior wears a long-sleeve tunic, short mantle, pants, boots and a helmet-like cap (with lower parts protecting the chin and the mouth); he is kneeling on one leg under the fierce attack of the beast but courageously defends himself raising his sword and keeping his balance by leaning against his shield (pelta).

The composition of this dynamic combat scene is skillfully designed. As a framework with no background, the fragile extended parts of the clay figures needed to be connected thus pre-venting breakage (the griffin’s tail and the wing, a tree-trunk and the griffin’s chest, the wing and the mantle, the shield and the ground. The modeled uneven surface of the ground and the tree-trunk are details to depict the wild land-scape. In Greek thought, the Arimaspi were imagined as Dionysiac servants, and their com-bat with the griffins was regarded as a symbolic itinerary from death to immortality.

The hole on the lower wing of the griffin made before the firing of the clay was intended for the affixing of the relief to a wooden panel of a sarcophagus, the design of which was influenced by the monumental architectural terracotta sculptures of ancient Southern Italy. The abundant remains of gold foil show that the entire surface of the relief was gilded; this contributed greatly to the intense polychromatic effect of the artwork.

CONDITION

Chips on the upper right wing and head of the griffin.

PROVENANCE

Ex- N. Koutoulakis, Paris, acquired on the Swiss art market, 1975; Ex- Swiss private collection, 1983.

PUBLISHED and EXHIBITED

FABULOUS MONSTERS, Phoenix Ancient Art 2021/40, New York, 2021, no. 13