{
"data": {
"id": 146776,
"accession_number": "1972.20",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Engaged Capital with a Lion and a Basilisk, 1175\u20131200. Northern Italy, Emilia (Bologna?), 12th century. Marble; overall: 30.2 x 33 x 29.3 cm (11 7/8 x 13 x 11 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1972.20",
"current_location": "106B Romanesque & Gothic Sculpture",
"title": "Engaged Capital with a Lion and a Basilisk",
"creation_date": "1175\u20131200",
"creation_date_earliest": 1175,
"creation_date_latest": 1199,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Northern Italy, Emilia (Bologna?), 12th century"
],
"technique": "marble",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Medieval Art",
"collection": "MED - Romanesque",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 30.2 x 33 x 29.3 cm (11 7/8 x 13 x 11 9/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.302,
"height_inch": 11,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.875,
"width": 0.33,
"width_inch": 13,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"depth": 0.293,
"depth_inch": 11,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.5625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "BASILISC.",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301752,
"title": "Year in Review: 1972",
"description": "Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).",
"opening_date": "1973-02-27T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 302145,
"title": "Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture",
"description": "Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).",
"opening_date": "1975-09-24T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 310042,
"title": "Images of the Mind",
"description": "Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987).",
"opening_date": "1987-07-07T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Juliana Armour Ferguson, Huntington, Long Island, New York",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "(Edward R. Lubin, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "-1972",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1972-",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [
{
"id": 146787,
"description": "Engaged Capital with Figures of a Man and of an Eagle, 1175\u20131200. Northern Italy, Emilia (Bologna?), 12th century. Marble; overall: 30.2 x 32.4 x 33 cm (11 7/8 x 12 3/4 x 13 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1972.21",
"relationship": null
},
{
"id": 146798,
"description": "Fragment of a Capital with the Ox of Saint Luke, c. 1175\u20131200. Northern Italy, Emilia (Bologna?), 12th century. Marble; overall: 24.5 x 25.1 x 11.5 cm (9 5/8 x 9 7/8 x 4 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1972.22",
"relationship": null
}
],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "This capital depicts a struggle between the good lion and the evil basilisk, a legendary reptile from myth. While the artist would not have encountered the mythical serpent, it is likely he never saw a real lion either based on its cartoonish appearance in this sculpture.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "The basilisk is an imaginary animal, half cock and half snake. According to medieval bestiaries, the basilisk could kill merely by its glance. It was commonly held as the symbol of the devil to be trodden down by Christ, first at the moment of his incarnation and then again during the Last Judgment.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60758849"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1972.20-engaged-capital-with"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 57",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n77"
},
{
"citation": "Wixom, William D. \u201cEleven Additions to the Medieval Collection.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66, no. 3 (Mar/April 1979): 87\u2013151.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 89-90, fig. 6-7",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159622"
},
{
"citation": "Cahn, Walter, and Linda Seidel. Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1999.",
"page_number": "Vol. II, no. B III 13, 161-63",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 76-79; Reproduced: p. 77",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.20",
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"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
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"athena_id": 146776,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1972-05-03T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1175,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1175\u20131200",
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"updated_at": "2026-06-17 11:19:44.436000"
}
}