Pisa Griffin Analysis

The Pisa Griffin is an Islamic art piece that has puzzled many scholars for decades. The bronze statue is at most 107 cm tall, 90 cm long and 46 cm wide, making it the largest Islamic bronze statue found from the eleventh and twelfth century. The statue depicts parts of many animals to form a creature that is similar to a griffin, including the head of an eagle, the ears of a horse, the wattles of a rooster, the body of a lion, a beak, and wings. The griffin has a stiff posture, and a rounded body which is currently shades of dark green and black black due to elemental wear of the metal over time.
Stylized marks are engraved along the statue which are used to both decorate and give meaning to the piece. The creator of this piece used many rounded geometric patterns commonly found in Islamic art which complements the rounded body of the griffin. The more simple engravings include wave-like feathers on the wings, semi-circular scales on the chest, and circles between geometric patterns on the back. More complex engraved teardrop images are displayed on the top of each leg which feature the

Along the walls of the cathedral, inscriptions celebrate the victories the Pisan had which supplied them booty to finance the construction of the cathedral. The scholar, Marilyn Jenins, found citations in a Latin text of an inscription on the facade of the Pisa Cathedral which said that a large bronze statue was taken by Pisan soldiers campaigning in North Africa. It may have been taken during the summer of 1087 attack on Mahdia, a capital city in modern Tunisia. The statue is believed to have reached Pisa by the fifteenth or sixteenth century and placed on a column above a gable above the apse on the east end of the Pisa Cathedral and remained there until 1828. One of the reasons the Pisa Griffin was placed on top of the cathedral was likely to publicly display the victories of the