Rock crystal Statuette of a Lion
Not on view
This statuette in the form of a lion is part of a group of delicate rock-crystal objects that were found together in a cistern in Carthage, Tunisia. Despite their secure archaeological provenance, their precise function remains unknown. Their composition in rock crystal, which was thought to have healing powers, situates them within a global network encompassing northeast Africa, the Mediterranean basin, and South Asia, among other regions. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century, noted that the material was sourced not only from the Indian subcontinent and Northern Europe, but also from the region between the Fayyum, in Egypt, and the Sinai desert.
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