Marble stele (grave marker) of a youth and a little girl

ca. 530 BCE

Marble, Attic

This is the most complete grave monument of its type to have survived from the Archaic period. The Met acquired five fragments between 1911 and 1951. A few pieces are represented here as plaster casts: The fragment with a girl’s head was acquired in 1903 by the Berlin Museums, and the one with the youth’s right forearm is in the National Museum in Athens. The capital and crowning sphinx are casts of the originals displayed in a case nearby for closer viewing of their polychromy.

The youth is shown as an athlete with an aryballos (oil flask, used for cleansing after exercise) suspended by a leather strap from his wrist and a pomegranate—associated with fecundity and death in Greek myths—in his hand. Traces of a painted whirling pattern on the aryballos imitate a painted terracotta vase. The smaller figure, presumably his younger sister, holds a flower.

This lavish monument, which stands over thirteen feet high, must have been erected by one of the wealthiest aristocratic families. Some scholars have restored the name of the youth in the inscription as Megakles, a name associated with the powerful Alkmeonidai clan, who opposed the tyrant Peisistratos during most of the second half of the sixth century b.c. Family tombs were sometimes desecrated and destroyed during that conflict, and this stele may have been among them.*

Marble capital and finial in the form of a sphinx, c530 BCE

Marble, Parian

This sculpture originally crowned the tall grave marker on view in this gallery. A plaster copy has been set on the monument itself and a new color reconstruction is displayed nearby. The sphinx retains abundant traces of yellow, red, black, and blue pigment, and the front face of the capital once had a painted design of palmettes and volutes (spiral scrolls).

A mythical creature with a lion’s body, the wings and breast of a bird, and a human head, the sphinx appears in various forms of art throughout the eastern Mediterranean region from the Bronze Age onward. The Greeks pictured it as a winged female and often placed its image on grave monuments as guardian of the dead. This example was carved separately from the rest; its plinth was let into a socket at the top of the capital and secured by a metal dowel and a bed of molten lead. The capital is in the form of two double volutes designed like a lyre.*

Reconstruction of a marble finial in the form of a sphinx

Cast from polymethyl metacrylate, natural pigments in egg tempera, gold foil, and copper

Vinzenz Brinkmann & Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

The original color on the marble sphinx is unusually well preserved. Scientific analyses, photographs with ultraviolet and infrared light, false-color photographs, and archaeological comparisons allow an almost complete reconstruction of the elegant designs in luminous and precious natural colors. Information is missing regarding additional detailing, such as fine lines subdividing the feathers, which may have been the final step in the original painting process.

"The figure of a sphinx, which originally crowned the so-called Megakles stele in The Met’s collection, is depicted in a squatting posture with the buttocks slightly raised and the face turned towards the viewer of the tomb monument. Colors are remarkably well preserved. Some consolidation had been executed in 20th century with a material that produces a visible luminescence when exposed to UV light.

The reconstruction is based on the scientific and archaeological research of the staff of the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project Frankfurt am Main. Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann and Vinzenz Brinkmann were responsible for the execution of the color reconstruction.

Pigments used in the reconstructions: blue: azurite; red: cinnabar; green: malachite; yellow: Cypriot ocher, lead yellow, dark yellow French ocher; white: kaolin, lead white; black: charred bone; flesh colors: lead white, red and yellow iron oxide gilded copper sheet, gilded copper wire, gilded tin*

Taken from the exhibition

Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color

(July 2022 to March 2023)

Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture was once colorful, vibrantly painted and richly adorned with detailed ornamentation. Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color reveals the colorful backstory of polychromy—meaning “many colors,” in Greek—and presents new discoveries of surviving ancient color on artworks in The Met’s world-class collection. Exploring the practices and materials used in ancient polychromy, the exhibition highlights cutting-edge scientific methods used to identify ancient color and examines how color helped convey meaning in antiquity, and how ancient polychromy has been viewed and understood in later periods.

The exhibition features a series of reconstructions of ancient sculptures in color by Prof. Dr. V. Brinkmann, Head of the Department of Antiquity at the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, and Dr. U. Koch-Brinkmann, and introduces a new reconstruction of The Met’s Archaic-period Sphinx finial, completed by The Liebieghaus team in collaboration with The Met.Presented alongside original Greek and Roman works representing similar subjects, the reconstructions are the result of a wide array of analytical techniques, including 3D imaging and rigorous art historical research. Polychromy is a significant area of study for The Met, and the Museum has a long history of investigating, preserving, and presenting manifestations of original color on ancient statuary.

[*The Met]

In the Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was conceived in Paris by John Jay in Paris, 1866, as a "national institution and gallery of art" for the American people. The Union League Club in New York campaigned for funding, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened to the public in 1870, in the Dodworth Building 681 Fifth Avenue. Initially formed from donations by its founders, the Museum collection increased to the point that it outgrew the initial site, and then a consecutive one, moving to its current location (on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street) in 1880.

The initial museum building was designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould, with extensions added from 1888 onwards - the Fifth Avenue facade, Grand Stairway, and Great Hall, designed by Richard Morris Hunt, opened 1902, and the Fifth Avenue wings by McKim, Mead & White in 1910. The last major development was the installation of glass at the sides and rear of the building, designed by Roch-Dinkeloo in 2011-12.

Taken in Manhattan

The sphinxes by the steps are some of the only remaining artifacts of the original Crystal Palace.

Sphinx moth visiting a Mule ear flower near June Lake, California

Sphinx moth

My five month old little rascal.

The sphinx and the great pyramid of Cheops, Giza, Egypt

This photo, taken at taken as darkness was setting in on the Sahara Desert, shows silhouettes of the Pyramid of Khafre, also known as the Pyramid of Chephren, and the Sphinx. I took this photo in December 1989.

Ron Hill Long sleeve t-shirt £16, short sleeve t-shirt £14 and shorts £14 Long sleeve and short sleeve technical fabric running tops in club vest design with club crest and SPHINX AC COVENTRY screen printed in blue on the back. 100% polyester 5” shorts with rear zipped pocket, royal blue with single yellow band down each side.

Sphinx with pyramid in the background - Egypt, Cairo

Photos from the Masonic Temple in downtown Salt Lake.

This is one of two granite sphinx that guard the north entrance of the temple.

I really like this particular view because of the detail it shows in the body and the headdress. I you look closely you can even see his ribs.

The ball in front of the sphinx is the world, there is even a map cut into the stone.

The great Sphinx at Giza. Believed to have been constructed by pharoah Khafre about 2520 BC.

the seven wonders of the world 29/1/2015

Sphinx Head in Old Man's Cave at Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio.

As with Cedar Falls I wanted to add the plaque in this photo of the "The Sphinx Head" when the photo is enlarged you can read the plaque and view the "sphinx head" I thought it was different look I have quite a few photos of this and wanted something different!

Looking from the Sphinx

Sphinx alley near Luxor temple

Keops Pyramid and sphinx in Egypt (2003)

Michelson Galleries, Main Street, Northampton.

See where this picture was taken. [?]

Sphinx Moth

Evening light on Sphinz and tower at Kansas City, Missouri's Liberty Memorial which commemorates World War I veterans.

I've been itching for a dual-sphinx shot for ages and today I got it! Unfortunately Kryssy is not at her best. This picture was taken some 24-28 hours after her operations and she's quite dopey and still off her food. Her spay scar doesn't seem to be worrying her at all. What the viewer sees here is the large shaved area and dressing over the lump removal wound. I am shocked to discover a 4" incision for the removal of a pea-sized lump. My vet was on holiday and the locum performed this operation. I shall be having stern words with the Main Man when we go in on Monday for the post-op check up.

Sphinx Moth

Sphinx ligustri

Please support my work on Patreon! I'm an independent entomologist that studies moths: www.patreon.com/BartButterflies

sometimes called a Hummingbird Moth

This is the second of two Rococo Sphinx statues in the Belvedere garden.

Sphinx is an image of a recumbent lion with the head of a ram, of a falcon or of a person, invented by the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom, and is a cultural import in Greek mythology.

Man stares in awe at Sphinx-shaped cloud

Apparently, he had some eclectic tastes, running slightly towards Oriental styles. But seriously, what palace would be truly complete without an authentic Egyptian sphinx?

The Sphinx, with the pyramid of Khufu in the background

The Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Khufu, The small pyramid in the right corner is one of the Queen's Pyramids (there are three).

I think the gold paint is a recent addition (it's on the broken nose as well) but I'd love it if the original was painted that way

Textured image.

The Great Sphinx of Giza is a statue of a reclining lion with a human head that stands on the Giza Plateau in Giza on the west bank of the Nile, near modern-day Cairo, in Egypt. It is the largest monolith statue in the world, standing 73.5 metres (241 ft) long, 6 metres (20 ft) wide, and 20.22 m (66.34 ft) high.[1] It is the oldest known monumental sculpture, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of Old Kingdom in 2555 BC to 2532 BC.

October 2009.

The Sphingidae are a family of moths (Lepidoptera), commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths, and hornworms; it includes about 1,450 species.[1] It is best represented in the tropics, but species are found in every region.[2] They are moderate to large in size and are distinguished among moths for their rapid, sustained flying ability.[2] Their narrow wings and streamlined abdomens are adaptations for rapid flight.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphingidae

As we were heading into the DuPage Birding Meeting, there were at least five or more of these critters feeding near the door. Unfortunately they were moving so fast I wasn't able to get a good shot, and they never landed (at least while I was there). Anyway, here's a little nature for ya.

Cantigny Park

Wheaton, Illinois

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Smaller than it looks, honestly.

This is one of two Rococo Sphinx statues in the Belvedere garden.

Taken on a HTC Desire camera, with pixlromatic filter & border applied

Playing and posing on the bed and my blankets with Keiko's favourite toy, a pink feather boa!

We were staying across the street from the recently defunct royal plumbing fixture factory Sphinx. It had only just been emptied out, I believe.