Sphinx

Unknown

18th century, with expert later repairs · Jasper with quartz · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Sphinxes all’antica, like Medusa heads, were enigmas often invoked in Neoclassical decorative arts. Someone took pains to preserve this piece after it broke, expertly repairing it with closely matched stone, then gluing it to a glass backing that has since been removed from the quartz ground layer.

Artist

Unknown

Date

18th century, with expert later repairs

Medium

Jasper with quartz

Culture

Italian

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

The Milton Weil Collection, 1939