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Ibis Eating a Lizard
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The ibis is an Egyptian bird, shown here standing firmly on both legs with a lizard in its beak. The bird rests on a two-tiered circular base, and a vertical stem with incised decoration extends above the ibis’s head. While an Egyptian animal, the image of the ibis devouring a lizard became common only in the Roman world, depicted in wall paintings and seen on Barbotine ware, a type of pottery. This sculpture may be unique, however, in showing this motif in the round.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineIbis Eating a Lizard, 100 BCE–100 CE. Italy, Rome, Roman Empire. Bronze, hollow cast; overall: 37.5 cm (14 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1974.3
