Larnaca Tympanum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The sculpture was found in the 1870s when foundations were being excavated for a house at Larnaca.[1] Subsequently, it was acquired by Alessandro Palma di Cesnola, and given to his father-in-law, Edwin Henry Lawrence, in lieu of his financial support of Cesnola's collections.[2] On 27 April 1892, Augustus Pitt Rivers purchased the sculpture at auction and transferred it to his private museum in Dorset.[3] Most of the collection was moved to Oxford to found the Pitt Rivers Museum. The tympanum, however, remained in Dorset and was sold in the 1980s to the V&A. After the sculpture was acquired by the V&A, it was published in a catalogue by Paul Williamson, one time Keeper of Sculpture, Director of Collections and Acting Deputy Director of that museum.[4] The sculpture is currently on public exhibition in the medieval galleries at the V&A.
