Art Museum Journal

July 4, 2009

A small ancient Near Eastern sculpture, Standing Lioness Demon (ca. 3000-2800 B.C.), was auctioned at Sotheby's New York in its Important Egyptian, Classical & Western Asiatic Antiquities sale on December 5, 2007. Also known as the Guennol Lioness, it was then one of the last stone Mesopotamian works still in private hands. Expected to fetch between $14 and $18 million (US), an anonymous British bidder purchased the rare artifact for $57,161,000. The proceeds went to the previous owner's charitable trust. And the transaction set a world record for any antiquity and sculpture sold by an auction house.

Although the Guennol Lioness was researched and exhibited publicly for nearly six decades, a paucity of concrete information about the mysterious piece exists. What makes this miniature Mesopotamian masterpiece of superb craftsmanship so vastly important and valuable?

The Guennol Collection

In the late 1940s, Alastair Bradley Martin and his wife, Edith Park Martin, began to purchase ancient, African, Asian and American folk art passionately. The Guennol Collection takes its name from the couple's former Glen Head, New York estate. Guennol (pronounced GWEN-ol) is Welsh for Martin. The couple acquired artworks for their aesthetic value, not for that on the international market. Mr. Martin, grandson of the late steel magnate Henry Phipps, became a Brooklyn Museum trustee in 1948 and served a term as its President. His family's celebrated collection was the subject of two special exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1969) and the Brooklyn Museum (2000).

Provenance of the Guennol Lioness

Scholarly studies strongly suggest that the white magnesite or crystalline limestone Guennol Lioness was carved in Elam, an ancient Mesopotamian region situated in modern-day southwestern Iran. At 8.8 cm (3 1/2 in.) in height, the precious sculpture was executed by artisans from the same civilization that witnessed the birth of writing, currency, the wheel and organized cities. The piece's geographical origin is corroborated stylistically by cylinder seals from the same location; one impression includes a similar leonine beast.

The Martins purchased the Guennol Lioness in 1948 from Joseph Brummer. The New York art dealer came to possess the figure in 1931, having reported its discovery at a site near Baghdad. The sculpture was subsequently on view at the Brooklyn Museum for almost 60 years. On loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art for its landmark exhibition Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus (May 8-August 17, 2003), the artifact was a showstopper in the installation's first gallery.

Significance of Standing Lion Demoness

Many ancient Near Eastern deities were hybrids, visually represented with both human and animal features. Such images evoked the Mesopotamians' belief in attaining power over the physical world by combining the superior physical attributes of various species. The striding upright Standing Lion Demoness is a diminutive feline figure with human posture. The Sumerians possibly borrowed this powerful artistic image from the nearby Proto-Elamites. Similar composite likenesses appear in the registers of the trapezoidal front panel of the famous Great Lyre from the "King's Grave" (ca. 2650-2550 B.C.), a musical string instrument from a royal burial site at Ur in present-day Iraq. The object was discovered by British archaeologist Sir C. Leonard Woolley (1880-1960) during his 1924-34 excavations.

The exquisitely carved Guennol Lioness is small in scale yet grand in power. It emanates strength and continues to evoke awe. This beautiful work of antiquity is thought by some experts to have been owned by a Mesopotamian of important social status, perhaps a ruler. Yet its exact function eludes scholars to this day. The sculpture was perhaps a fierce talisman meant to ward off evil. The figurine's engaged clenched claws that compress its massive upper torso suggest a protective aspect of the composition.