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| Perhaps the most dramatic item in the Beauty and Belief exhibition is a bronze griffin. It is the replica of a statue that sat atop the Pisa Cathedral for some 700 years before renovators discovered that the statue bore an inscription in Arabic. The griffin’s Islamic origins are unknown. |
| Griffin, cast bronze with engraved decoration, probably Spain, 11th–12th century, 107 x 32 x 82 cm, Opera della Primaziale Pisana, Pisa (copy exhibited); photo by Mark Philbrick. |
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