Detached Creature from the Cleveland Apollo: Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) or Apollo the Python-Slayer
c. 350–200 BCE
Medium
bronze, copper and stone inlay
Dimensions
3.4 × 5.6 cm, l. 15.5 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Greek and Roman Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession Number
2004.30.c
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
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 ...