Imperial Eagle (100 BCE–100 CE): Art, History and Details

Imperial Eagle (100 BCE–100 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This eagle stands on an integrated bronze base with overlapping ovoid-shaped feathers creating a layered pattern across its body, and its tail feathers fanned out. The wings, now lost, were likely cast separately in bronze and then soldered or welded to the bird’s body. The eyes are inlaid with red stones believed to be garnets. The eagle is associated with Jupiter, king of the gods, and the Roman poets Virgil and Horace described the birds as the bearers of his thunderbolt. While eagles were often depicted on Roman coins, the bird is rarely depicted in the round in Roman art.

Object facts

• Title: Imperial Eagle
• Date: 100 BCE–100 CE
• Culture: probably Syria, Roman
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze with garnet inlays
• Dimensions: Overall: 12.1 x 6.9 x 9.7 cm (4 3/4 x 2 11/16 x 3 13/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Roman
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1988.40

A detail from the museum

The eagle was a symbol of the Roman Empire and its military.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "The Year in Review for 1988." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 76, no. 2 (1989).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.