A ROMAN BRONZE SPHINX

Representations of sphinxes are known in Egyptian, Greek and Roman art, from the Great Sphinx in Giza dating the 4th Dynasty to diminutive 3rd Century Roman intaglios: it was a popular subject matter. Originally the sphinx was an Egyptian invention - the term comes from the Egyptian shepesankh or 'living statue', combining a human head with the body of a lion. In Egyptian times they were seen as protectors of temples and sanctuaries or as an image of royalty with the face of the Pharaoh. This Roman bronze however, is a more sensuous winged representation, seated and pushing back on her front legs with her body raised and head thrown back, her breasts are visible and her ribcage beneath. The details of her hair and wings are finely incised.

The dating of this bronze sphinx suggests that she would have been made during the rule of Augustus, whose seal ring, that he had inherited from his adoptive father, Julius Ceasar, depicted a sphinx. Augustus also employed the device of a seated sphinx on some of his coins minted circa 20 B.C. (see the silver cistophorus, no. 129 in J.P.C. Kent, Roman Coins). For a 1st century terracotta support with a sphinx with similar angle of the head in the British Museum see acc. no. 1873,0820.636 and for a much larger marble table support see acc. no. 1805,0703.40.