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The Pisa Griffin is a large bronze sculpture of a griffin, a mythical beast, which has been in Pisa in Italy since the Middle Ages, though it is of Islamic origin. It is the largest medieval Islamic metal sculpture known, at over three feet tall (42.5 inches, or 1.07 m.), and was probably created in the 11th century in Al-Andaluz (Islamic Spain).〔Quantara; Hoffman, 318〕 It has been described as the "most famous as well as the most beautiful and monumental example" of a tradition of zoomorphic bronzes in Islamic art.〔Yale, 210〕 It is now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum), Pisa. ==Description== The griffin has the head of an eagle; but it has ears like those of a horse as well as the wattles of a rooster, wings, and the body of a lion, or other mammal(s), with toes. Its dimensions are: height 107 cm; length 87 cm; width 43 cm. It is made of cast bronze (i.e. copper alloy) with the wings cast separately and held in place by rivets; it is largely hollow inside. There is engraved decoration, including an Arabic inscription in Kufic letters round the beast's chest and flanks saying: "Perfect benediction, complete wellbeing, perfect joy, eternal peace and perfect health, and happiness and good fortune (?) for the owner".〔Quantara〕 The wings are decorated with stylized feathers, the chest with overlapping semi-circular scales, and the back with a pattern of plain circles enclosed in two rings, on a textured background. At the top of each leg there is a more elaborate inverted teardrop-shaped zone or cartouche, where arabesques surround an animal, lions on each front leg and birds, presumably eagles, on each rear one.〔(Quantara ), moveable zoom, close-up image], see Quantara text also.〕 There are three openings to the interior of the statue, which contains fittings given various interpretations, described below. There are openings at the mouth, rear – perhaps for a missing tail – and a larger one under the belly. Inside is "a globular “cup” made of bronze, open towards the belly and soldered on the back with a fine piece of the same metal".〔Quantara〕 File:Arte islamica, ippogrifo, XI sec 01.JPG File:Arte islamica, ippogrifo, XI sec 04.JPG File:Arte islamica, ippogrifo, XI sec 05.JPG File:Arte islamica, ippogrifo, XI sec 08.JPG 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pisa Griffin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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