Byzantine panel with a Griffin, 1250–1300 This image of a gri | John Kennedy

Byzantine panel with a Griffin, 1250–1300

This image of a griffin with its head turned and its wing flexed is a fine example of monumental stone carving of the Late Byzantine era. The panel worked in low relief resembles an elaborate Byzantine silk in its arrangement of the creature within a roundel. Greek crosses at the midpoint of the border on all four sides. Christians of this era still considered the mythical griffins to be guardian figures, often of the dead, & symbols of power & authority, thanks in part to their legendary role in the life of Alexander the Great.

Possibly, the panel was part of a tomb similar to those known from northern Greece that were carved in a style influential in Serbia & the Balkans. On tombs griffins may have meant both to protect the people buried within & to symbolize their royal lineage. The fleurs-de-lis on the griffin's shoulder & haunch typify the era's complex cultural interplay as similar motifs are found in contemporary Islamic & Crusader depictions of animals.