The Pisa Griffin is a large bronze sculpture of a griffin, a mythical beast, that has remained in Pisa, Italy since the Middle Ages despite its Islamic origin, specifically late 11th or early twelfth century Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain). It is now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) in Pisa.
Carbon dating has determined that the griffin was made sometime between 1085 and 1110 AD. The Pisa Griffin is the largest medieval Islamic metal sculpture known, standing over three feet tall at . 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.
The griffin seems at first a historical anomaly given its elusive origin and multiplicity of possible uses, including a fountainhead or musical instrument. However, its possible origin can be approximated by comparing it to similar sculptures of its time, namely the animalistic sculptures and fountains of Al-Andalusian palatial settlements. Furthermore, the griffin may share a similar method of construction, and therefore origin, as the Al-Andalusian fountainheads based on the metallic contents of its bronze alloy.
Description
The griffin has the head of an eagle, ears like those of a horse, wattles of a rooster, wings, and the body of a lion and other mammals’ limbs and toes. Its dimensions are X X . The statue is made of cast bronze (i.e. copper alloy). Its wings are cast separately and held in place by rivets. It is largely hollow inside. There is an engraved decoration, including an Arabic inscription in Kufic letters around 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."
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 are depicted on each front leg. Birds, presumably eagles, are depicted on each rear one.
There are three openings leading to the interior of the statue that contains fittings given various interpretations, described below. There are openings at the mouth, the 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."
Original use and history
Fountainhead
The griffin is the largest of a group of surviving Islamic bronze animals, most of which are much smaller and functioned as aquamaniles and incense-burners (images below) A much smaller group of middle-sized works contains several that were clearly fountainheads, probably originally arranged in circular groups facing outwards, similar to the famous stone lions (image below) still in residence at the Alhambra in Granada. Among the group of non-portable early Islamic bronze animals, two have been clearly made as fountainheads: a lion, perhaps from Sicily and rather later in date, and a 10th-century hind (female deer) from Cordoba. The latter sculpture of a female deer is said to be a companion of the "Cordoba Stag,” the best known of the group after the Pisa Griffin. This hind statue stands high, although lacking the antlers it is presumed to have originally had, and dates to ca. 950–1000. It is in the Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Cordoba and was found in the ruins of the large palace-city Madinat Al-Zahra outside Cordoba.
A different hind fountainhead found in Madinat Al-Zahra is in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid (image below). The 16th century historian al-Maqqari noted there were “...marble basins with elaborate spouts at the palace of Madinat al-Zahra” adorned different animal heads. “One of these was surrounded by twelve gold animal sculptures which spewed water from their mouths." Smaller pieces include the "Kassel Lion," signed by Abd Allah Mattial from the 10th or 11th century (Kassel Museum), and the "Monzón lion" (image below) in the Louvre.
It has been suggested that the griffin may have been placed in a fountain with water spouting from its mouth. However, this theory has been recently questioned by some historians, because the griffin does not contain any remnants of a hydraulic system needed to push water through its mouth.