Sphinx on the Pluteus

A mixture of classical elements - this time derived with careful method from ancient sculpture - and others still Eastern in taste is found in the Roman marble workers, who in their rare figurative works offer a particular version of zoomorphic themes. The laughing sphinxes of Civita Castellana, halfway between the savage and the human, between architecture and sculpture, hold an ambiguous fascination, which the smooth «skin» of the worn marble serves to accentuate.