Description
Both snakelike and lizardlike in appearance, the creature has a scaly head and four small feet. These are attached asymmetrically to its long and sinuous body, some with carefully delineated toes, others less detailed. The smallest foot falls behind a line bisecting the creature, where radiography shows a pin joining two separately cast sections. Although the bronze of the front and back halves is quite similar, the front half shows greater porosity (air bubbles). Perhaps the original back half was damaged during casting, necessitating a new or re-casting of that portion of the creature, with a smaller, relocated fourth leg.
Provenance
Ernst-Ulrich Walter, Germany; [Phoenix Ancient Art, 2004] (2004); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2004-)
Detached Creature from the Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer
c. 350–200 BCE
Accession Number
2004.30.c
Medium
bronze, copper and stone inlay
Dimensions
Overall: 14.8 x 9.4 x 3.6 cm (5 13/16 x 3 11/16 x 1 7/16 in.)
Classification
Sculpture
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Related Artworks
The Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer
Praxiteles
The Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer
Praxiteles
Detached Left Forearm and Hand of the Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer
Praxiteles
Charity
Mino da Fiesole