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© Bruce M. White, 2007.
Table Leg in the Form of a Lion Head
© Bruce M. White, 2007.
© Bruce M. White, 2007.
© Bruce M. White, 2007.
ClassificationsGreek and Roman Art

Table Leg in the Form of a Lion Head

AAT Object Form/FunctionFurniture Components
CultureRoman
PeriodImperial
Date1st Century CE
MediumPavonazzetto marble
Credit LineGift of the Connoisseurs
Dimensions24 5/8 x 8 1/2 in. (62.5 x 21.6 cm)
Object number1988.004.002
Label TextColored stones were used in antiquity not just for domestic vessels, but also for furniture and even architectural elements. Here, a gray-white marble with purple inclusions known as pavonazzetto has been employed for a table support. It takes the form of a feline leg (its claw foot now missing) that is capped with the head of a roaring panther, whose wide eyes may originally have been inlaid. Toward the top of the leg is a collar of foliage.

A strut, now broken away, extended behind the leg, and would have connected it to two others, forming a tripod. The table surface would have risen above the height of the panther heads but without projecting beyond them. Ancient repairs can be seen in the piecing together and an iron pin that is embedded behind.

Pavonazzetto is found in Asia Minor at Ischehisar, ancient Dokimium, between Ankara and Afyon. The quarries seem to have been first exploited in the first century BC, at which time inscriptions suggest that they may have been under the control of the imperial family. Its period of greatest use in Rome was during the second century AD, on building projects of the emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.
Exhibition HistoryRecent Acquisitions, Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, July 14 - September 15, 1988
The Beauty of Beasts, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee, November 1, 1992 - April 15, 1993
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, May 11, 1993 - May 2004
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2004 - August 27, 2013
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, September 25, 2013 - September 30, 2014
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, November 17, 2014 - March 14, 2023
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, May 2, 2023 - Present
Published ReferencesJasper Gaunt, "New Galleries of Greek & Roman Art at Emory University: The Michael C. Carlos Museum," Minerva 16 (2005): 13-17.
Michael C. Carlos Museum: Highlights of the Collections (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2011), 60.
ProvenancePurchased by Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology from Brian T. Aitken (1952-2009) [Acanthus Gallery], New York, New York.
Status
On view
Collections
  • Greek and Roman Art