Figurine of a Sphinx
Unknown (Boeotia) · c. 550-525 BC
A sphinx sits back on her haunches, her wings curling upward behind her, her human head crowned with a tall basket-shaped headdress topped by a disc. Long locks of hair hang down over her shoulders, and she wears disc earrings that were pressed on separately as pellets of clay. The figure is nearly thirty centimetres high, unusually large for a terracotta, and it keeps a good deal of its paint: yellow on the hindquarters, red on the legs, face, hair, wings and headdress, and traces of black on the hair.
The sphinx, a creature of Egyptian and Near Eastern origin, was adopted by the Greeks as a guardian of tombs and sanctuaries, and in Boeotia she had a special place as the monster who tormented Thebes until Oedipus solved her riddle. This figurine was found at Thebes itself and made in the region in the third quarter of the sixth century BC. The head and wings were pressed in moulds while the body was modelled by hand, a mixed technique typical of Boeotian workshops. Part of the hindquarters is missing and many fragments have been reattached. The Louvre bought it in 1898.
Did You Know? The figurine was found at Thebes, the very city that the mythical sphinx terrorised with her riddle.
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