1967.6.2, Appliques: two couchant lions, Etruscan, late 6th or early 5th century BCE, bronze

Lions were a favorite subject in Etruscan, Greek, and near Eastern art. The Etruscans often used bronze representations of the lion to decorate armor, furniture, and carriages, and especially as fittings on bronze vessels. These ornamental attachments generally appeared in groups, so this pair of lions probably decorated the same vessel or other object. They may have been positioned back to back or confronted in a heraldic arrangement, serving in a dual capacity as decorative and guardian entities. Their small scale and the fact that their forepaws were excluded from the form (they appear to be hidden beneath the creatures) indicate that their original setting was purely decorative and probably subsidiary. 

In their crouching pose, the lions are depicted snarling with their ears pinned back. Their eyes are narrow ridges, their whiskers and ruffs are hatched, and their manes are rendered in a stylized triangle pattern. Their hind legs extend from the haunches in low relief along their bodies. The tails do not cling to the bodies except for the slight attachment for stability at the base of the small curve; this is typical of Etruscan lions and distinguishes them from Greek ones. 

Anne R. Bromberg, and Karl Kilinski II, Gods, Men, and Heroes: Ancient Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1996), 86.

Until 1967: Elie Borowski, Basel, Switzerland

From 1967: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of above [1], [2]

[1] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

[2] See object card in Collections Records Object File (1967.6.1-2)

Apply to objects where number equals 1967.6.2