Etruscan Sphinx in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, October 2009

Sphinx
Italic, Etruscan, Archaic Period, about 560 B.C.

Dimensions: Height x length: 69 x 60 cm (27 3/16 x 23 5/8 in.)

Medium or Technique: Nenfro

Classification: Sculpture

Catalogue Raisonné: Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 392; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 116 (additional published references).

Accession Number: 63.2758

The sphinx has a light brown to yellow patina, with rough surfaces. Left eye, nose, mouth, and chin have been damaged; the start of the left front leg survives. The curved wing is in perfect preservation, as it loops back to join the body, giving the seated sphinx a look of crouching alertness. The large eyes and broad, flat face, by contrast, produce an almost bland vision of slightly provincial, early Archaic sculpture in southern and western Greece. Heavy curls ...of hair are wrapped across the top of the head and around the back of the skull. They hang down to enframe the face in a broad semicircle. The lines or grooves of the hair are carried right on in the muscles of the left leg. The feathers of the wings, and the fur on the haunches, creating an original, charming overall pattern.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/sphinx-151386