Revetment Plaque with Fighting Animals: Lion, Griffin and Bull
Unknown · Late Bronze Age, circa 1550 to 1250 BC
A thin sheet of bronze about twelve centimetres high, hammered from the back so that the figures stand out in relief. The subject is a struggle between animals: a lion, a griffin and a bull locked in combat, a theme of hunting and violence that Near Eastern artists returned to for millennia. Look at the row of small holes around the edge; they held the nails that fixed the plaque to a wooden object, perhaps a piece of furniture, a chariot or a door. The technique, called repoussé, allowed a smith to produce a lively scene with very little metal.
The museum records the plaque as Syrian work but found in Egypt, and it was purchased without a recorded date, entering under old inventory numbers before receiving its present one. Its journey is typical of the Late Bronze Age, when Syrian craftsmen and their products moved freely between the courts of the Levant and the Nile. The griffin, part lion and part eagle, was a favourite hybrid of the Aegean and the Levant, and its appearance here alongside the lion and bull shows the mixed visual language of the period.
Did You Know? The plaque was made in Syria but found in Egypt, a small trace of the traffic in luxury goods between the two lands.
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