griffin

On the left arm, the mythical griffin creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle appears to be fighting with a stag.

Think animal jewelry — bridles, straps and other harness parts adorned with eagle heads, rosettes, griffins, busts of Herakles, serpents and lions, often shaped from gold.

A pair of sleeping lions, for instance, Irvine found in the back pages of a catalog for a Chicago statue company, and two iron griffins were hiding in the corner of an Alhambra marble shop.

Renaissance and Medieval pieces, and the “quality camp” or “fantasy furniture” he favored — weird and whimsical pieces embellished with mythical creatures; chairs sprouting antlers, torcheres bedecked with gargoyles, commodes atop griffin feet.

What she was proposing was wildly off-brand: an epic fantasy series with dragons, griffins, magic and political intrigue.