Engaged Capital with a Lion and a Basilisk
Unknown Artist
1175–1200
Medium
marble
Dimensions
30.2 × 33 × 29.3 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1972.20
About this artwork
The basilisk is an imaginary animal, half cock and half snake. According to medieval bestiaries, the basilisk could kill merely by its glance. It was commonly held as the symbol of the devil to be trodden down by Christ, first at the moment of his incarnation and then again during the Last Judgment.