Female sphinx head wearing a headdress, ear caps, and beaded choker
Datesecond half of the 5th century BCE
Periodearly to mid-Classical
CultureCypriot
MediumLimestone with red paint
ClassificationSculpture
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN28.1656
The mythological sphinx in Greek form has a lion’s body, human head, and wings. This female figure is heavily jeweled and her neck angles like other sphinxes at Amathus that crouch and support an incense burner bowl. Here instead the top of her head is the incense burner.
On View
Not on viewHeight: (5 1/8 in.) 13 cm
Width: (3 15/16 in.) 10 cm
Thickness: (3 3/8 in.) 8.5 cm
Face
Height (bottom of chin to edge of headdress): (2 1/4 in.) 5.69 cm
Width (max): (2 1/16 in.) 5.25 - 5.38 cm
Width (cheek to cheek): (3 3/8 in.) 8.6 cm
Length (max): (2 3/4 in.) 7 cm
Choker
Width: (3/8 in.) 0.88 cm
Width (at sides): (3/8 in.) 0.91 cm
Width (at center where central pendant is broken off): (5/16 in.) 0.78 cm
Ear cap
Height: (5/8 in.) 1.6 cm
Width (right): (1 1/16 in.) 2.62 cm
Width (left): (3/4 in.) 1.96 cm
Pendant earring (right)
Length: (9/16 in.) 1.44 cm
Width: (1/2 in.) 1.32 cm
Pendant earring (left)
Length: (5/16 in.) 0.82 cm
Width: (5/8 in.)1.62 cm
Crown
Height (left): (1 3/4 in.) 4.48 cm
Height (right): (1 11/16 in.) 4.24 cm
Height (front center): (1 1/2 in.) 3.84 cm
Height (at back): (1 7/8 in.) 4.73 cm
Incense burner
Width (interior): (2 7/16 in.) 6.26 cm
Thickness (interior): (1 13/16 in.) 4.64 cm
Width (exterior): (3 1/2 in.) 8.95 cm
Thickness (exterior): (3.0 in.) 7.66 cm
Depth: (1/4 in.) 0.6 cm
Medium Details
Color
Stone: 2.5Y 8/1 (white) to 2.5Y 8/2 (pale yellow)
Paint: 10R 5/6 (red)
Inclusions
n/a
second half of the 5th century BCE
5th century BCE
late 4th century BCE
end of the 4th-1st c. BCE
second half of the 4th century BCE
3rd–1st century BCE
second half of the 5th century BCE
540-450 BC
1st century CE