Lion Attacking an Antelope
Description
Object Label: These four reliefs show some of the characteristic features of Late Antique Egyptian sculpture and the ways in which some examples were reworked in modern times. The carving of the panel showing a lion attacking an antelope appears to be ancient, although the surface has certainly been cleaned of any traces of paint. The same appears to be true of the scroll design enclosing birds and grapes. The other two scroll designs, however, must have been damaged in antiquity. They have been “restored” in the twentieth century: one with a clumsily posed human figure and an unconvincing lion’s head, the other with a pair of snakes and bird heads. Snakes and partial representations of animals very seldom appeared in Late Antique Egyptian sculpture. However, such “renewals” as these may have given more adventurous carvers the idea of creating the entirely new sculptures seen elsewhere in this exhibition. Caption: Coptic. Lion Attacking an Antelope, 6th century C.E.; modern reworking. Limestone, 8 11/16 x 21 7/16 x 2 3/8 in. (22 x 54.5 x 6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 40.302. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A carved relief depicting two animals engaged in a dynamic scene.
The artifact features a carved relief showing two animals, possibly lions, facing each other in a mirrored composition. The relief is intricately carved with evident attention to the detailing of the animals’ features and movement. Surrounding the animals are decorative motifs that might be symbolic or ornamental. The style reflects a skilled craftsmanship typical of ancient relief carvings.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 40.302 tier-2
- BKM-Object 50221 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.