Terracotta lamp in the form of an elephant's head
The campaigns of Alexander the Great brought Greece into contact with animals from India and the East that the Greeks had not known of previously. The elephant became a popular representation on Hellenistic coins. With the Carthaginian influence on Sicily during the Punic Wars of the third century B.C., elephants, usually depicted as war animals, also became common in Sicilian art. Traces of the original black glaze can be seen on the surface of this lamp.
Artwork Details
- Title: Terracotta lamp in the form of an elephant's head
- Period: Hellenistic
- Date: 3rd century BCE
- Culture: Greek, Sicilian
- Medium: Terracotta
- Dimensions: length 7 1/8 in. (18 cm)
- Classification: Terracottas
- Credit Line: Gift of Albert Gallatin, 1926
- Object Number: 26.212
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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