A lion on the scale of a temple

Start with the lion's long body, then bring your gaze towards its head. The animal is lying down, yet its size gives it a strong presence. At more than a metre in length, this limestone sculpture asks you to look at it in relation to your own body and the space around it. The lion came from the Serapeum at Saqqara, in the region of the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis. The Serapeum was a burial place for the sacred Apis bulls, with tombs underground. That setting brings the sculpture into a world where animals held an important place in religious life. Its precise original position remains uncertain. Here, in a room devoted to a temple forecourt, notice how its low, extended shape occupies the floor. Compare the solid body with the treatment of the head. Those choices give a resting animal a lasting presence, and help you picture sculpture as something encountered within the spaces of a sacred complex.