Handle in the Form of a Man Holding Lions

Description This handle in the form of a nude male athlete was part of a metal "oinochoe," or jug, with a trefoil mouth, many of which were manufactured in the Peloponnese, renowned for its metallurgists. A nude male is holding the tails of two lionesses, which were attached on the lip of the vessel, while trampling a "gorgoneion," the head of the Medusa, who turned whoever looked at her face into stone. His domination over the lions suggests that he is a deity, perhaps the god Apollo.

Provenance Carmichael Sale, London, 1926, no. 330; Joseph Brummer, Paris and New York, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1927, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1927