Global InformationCesnola Sphinx Funerary Stele information
| Cesnola Sphinx Funerary Stele | |
|---|---|
 Limestone funerary stele (shaft) surmounted by two sphinxes | |
| Material | Limestone |
| Size | Overall: 34 3/4 x 26 15/16in. (88.2 x 68.5cm) |
| Created | last quarter of the 5th century B.C. |
| Period/culture | Classical Greece |
| Discovered | 1860s-1870s Golgoi Necropolis, Cyprus |
| Discovered by | Luigi Palma di Cesnola |
| Place | Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| Present location | New York City |
| Identification | 74.51.2499 |
| Culture | Cypriot Greek |
The Cesnola Sphinx Funerary Stele is a Classic Greek funerary stela dating to the last quarter of the 5th century B.C.[1]
It is part of the Cesnola Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a sub-section of the Department of Greek and Roman Art, named after the first director of the MET, Luigi Palma di Cesnola, whose collection is considered the museum's earliest and inaugural acquisition upon opening in Central Park in 1880.[2]
Consisting of well over 6000 pieces, shipped on 275 crates, the stele, along with the collection served as a cornerstone for the study of Cypriot art, a crossroads of Assyrian, Phoenician, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman influences.[3]
- ^ "Limestone funerary stele (shaft) surmounted by two sphinxes | Cypriot | Classical". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
- ^ Art, Authors: Department of Greek and Roman. "The Cesnola Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
- ^ Hermany, Antonine; Mertens, Joan R. (2014). The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art: Stone Sculpture (1st ed.). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 337–338. ISBN 9780300206715.