A Greek Bronze Griffin Protome, circa late 7th Century B.C.

from the shoulder of a large bronze cauldron, with tapering serpentine neck flanged at the base for attachment, gaping beak with flickering tongue, large hollow  eyes beneath the vertically striated eyebrows, slender erect ears with striated edges, and knobbed stem above the forehead, the scales and long spiraling locks on the neck finely engraved.

reputedly from Olympia
recorded in Paris in 1938
Sigmund Morgenroth, Santa Barbara, California, 1950s
American private collection, by descent
M. Knoedler & Co., New York, inv. no. CA6703, on consignment from the above
Denys Sutton (1917-1991), London, acquired from the above on January 2nd, 1964

"Art of the United Nations," M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, May 15th - June 30th, 1945
"Small Bronzes of the Ancient World," The Detroit Institute of Art, March 23rd - May 18th, 1947  
"Ancient Art in American Private Collections," Loan Exhibition at the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 28th, 1954 - February 15th, 1955
Mills College Art Gallery, Oakland, 1958

Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, Ancient Art in American Private Collections, exh. cat., Cambridge, 1954, no. 199, pl. LX (one of two)
J.L. Benson, review of Ulf Jantzen's Griechische Greifenkessel, American Journal of Archaeology, October 1957, p. 400
Ulf Jantzen, Greifenprotomen von Samos, ein Nachtrag, Hamburg, 1957-1958, nos. 86a and b
J.L. Benson, "Unpublished Griffin Protomes in American Collections, Antike Kunst, 3. Jahrgang, 1960, heft 2, p. 70 in the appendix 
David Gordon Mitten and Suzannah F. Doeringer, Master Bronzes from the Classical World, exh. cat., Cambridge, Mass., 1967, mentioned on p. 73 (cat. no. 67)
Fogg Art Museum, The Frederick M. Watkins Collection, exh. cat., Cambridge, Mass., 1977, mentioned on p. 15 (cat. no. 1)
Hans Volkmar Herrmann, Die Kessel der orientalisierenden Zeit: Kesselprotomen und Stabdreifüsse, 1978, p. 16, 40 (G78), and 113f., pl. 46.5
Ulrich Gehrig, Die Greifenprotomen aus dem Heraion von Samos, Bonn, 2004, p. 58, n. 241

Very good and as shown in photos, areas of encrustation and surface wear, tips of ears and tongue chipped. Please note that the protome is broken and repaired across the neck directly below the ears with minor areas of restoration along the join. The paint masking the break was removed only from the back, thus exposing the join as well as matching engraved decoration on either side of the break. This make it clear that the two parts originally belong together.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

A very closely related example, probably from the same cauldron, was also once in the Morgenroth Collection. It is now in the Fogg Museum (Harvard Art Museums), inv. no. 1963.130 (Mitten and Doeringer, op. cit., no. 67; Herrmann, op. cit., p. 40 [G77], pl. 46.4). Both protomes are mentioned by Ernest Langlotz in a letter from Paris dated to the summer of 1938.

Denys Miller Sutton (1917-1991) assumed the role of editor of the London-based arts magazine Apollo in 1962, and retained this position for about 25 years, during which he considerably expanded the scope of the publication, addressing sensitive art preservation issues, attracting new contributors among prominent art historians and writers, writing many articles himself, and devoting several issues to the collections of museums around the world. His strong and unrelenting interest in the visual arts was a lifelong pursuit: he served as secretary of the international commission for the restitution of cultural material after World War II, worked as an art critic for Country Life and the Financial Times, authored several books on painting, including works on Watteau, Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, Picasso, and Whistler, and organized several exhibitions abroad such as shows on Constable and Titian in Tokyo. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (vol. 53, Oxford, 2003, p. 382) describes him as an "astute collector of art."