The Lion of St. Mark was a Chinese monster: what are the implications of the Venetian discovery

La news is so surprising and unsettling that, a week after the announcement (which took place June 11 an international conference in Venice) the world of historians and art historians still kept comments to a minimum. The statue of the lion of St. Mark that has stood on the much-photographed column in St. Mark’s Square in Venice since the 13th century (at least) is a rehash of a Chinese statue, most likely a zhènm&u grave;shòu (镇墓兽, “guardian of tombs”), a monstrous creature, cast in the Tang era (609-907 AD).

Let us clarify for readers: this is not one of those many sensational hypotheses, heralded at conventions or conferences, bouncing around in newspapers all over the world because of their fascination, but on the proof of the facts lacking solid foundations. Here we are dealing with a scientific study, conducted by a team of scholars and scholars in geology, chemistry, archaeology and art history from the University of Padua and the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies-Ismeo, in synergy with colleagues from the University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, which will be screened by other scientists, independently, under the regular peer-review system , with a view to publication in an internationally renowned scientific journal (the authors have chosen Antiquity). Barring any glaring errors (to date implausible) on the part of the team, we are facing a scientific discovery that will overturn the history of that statue forever.

In short, scholars proved the Chinese origin of the statue through chemical analysis of lead isotopes. These were three never-before-analyzed samples taken when, in 1990, the lion was taken down from the column and brought to the British Museum for restoration (and an exhibition). The last time, being able to look at the statue up close, there was widespread debate about its provenance and origin, a statue isolated in Europe and beyond: a little bit of everything was speculated, Sasanian, Assyrian, Hellenistic, Indian, and even Chinese. But then prevailed - on the basis of stylistic and iconographic elements - the hypothesis, supported with good arguments by Bianca Maria Scafì, of Anatolian origin (4th century BC). The lion would have been, originally, one of the supporting figures of the god Sandon/Sandas, honored in the city of Tarsus, supported precisely by horned lions: the winged lion in Piazzetta San Marco had its horns cut off.

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