Lion ripping off a cow (KHM 8020)
| Lion ripping off an ox | |
|---|---|
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| material | slate |
| Dimensions | H. 28 cm; L. 61.5 cm; w. 13 cm; |
| origin | unknown |
| time | Late period , 30th Dynasty , ca.350 BC. Chr. |
| place | Vienna , Kunsthistorisches Museum , KHM 8020 |
The lion that rips off a cow is an ancient Egyptian sculpture that is exhibited in the Egyptian-Oriental Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna under inventory number 8020. It is 61.5 cm long, made of green slate and dates from the late period , probably from the 30th dynasty . Their location is unknown. It shows a lion ripping off a cow . What is unusual is that the lion is shown in full action, as in Egyptian lion representations it is usually presented resting. The lion grabs the cattle by the sides with its front paws and knocks its teeth into its neck. The cow is shown on a smaller scale. His head is broken off.
The representation is symbolic. The motif appears among other things in the Amarna period , but also in Mycenae , for example .
Emma Brunner-Traut and Hellmut Brunner suspected that it was a cult image of a temple . According to ancient Egyptian beliefs, the god's actual dwelling was the holy of holies of a temple, the innermost room on which the other rooms and the cult events were concentrated. In this room the god was present in the form of an image of a god, a small cult statue. This cult statue was animated and served as the actual body in which the deity lived. In this case, the lion god Miysis , the main god of Leontopolis, would come into question for the sculpture .
The original origin of the sculpture is unknown, it comes from the collection of Tommaso degli Obbizzi in the Castello del Catajo and came into the possession of Franz Ferdinand , who died in the 1914 assassination attempt in Sarajevo , through the House of Este . In 1918 it was added to the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Right side view
Detail view
Front view
literature
- Helmut Satzinger : The Art History Museum in Vienna. The Egyptian-Oriental Collection (= Ancient World . Special issue / Zabern's illustrated books on archeology. Volume 14 ). von Zabern, Mainz 1994, ISBN 3-8053-1600-3 .
Web links
- Lion ripping off a cow in the object database of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
- Entry and description at The Global Egyptian Museum
Individual evidence
- ↑ H. Satzinger: The Art History Museum in Vienna. Mainz 1994, p. 94.