Gilt Bronze Medusa Mask in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 2018

Mask

Date:late 18th–early 19th century

Culture:French

Medium:Gilt bronze

Dimensions:Overall (confirmed): 4 3/8 × 5 3/8 × 1 3/8 in. (11.1 × 13.7 × 3.5 cm)

Classification:Metalwork-Gilt Bronze

Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1906

Accession Number:07.225.510.255

The monumentality of this fragment belies its size, and the powerful Medusa head illustrates that the distinction between sculpture and the decorative arts cannot always be clearly drawn. This head, with its agonized expression, may have been part of a clock with the figures of Perseus and his bride, Andromeda. The Greek hero slew the gorgon Medusa and afterward saved Andromeda from a sea monster.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/190001