The Albani lion is a first-century Roman green basalt lion statue with a yellow marble sphere under one paw, in the Albani Collection in the Denon Wing of the Louvre (inventory number Ma 1355) in Paris, France.
The Albani lion is possibly a reproduction of an earlier Greek bronze statue, as basalt was used in the first century AD for reproductions of Greek bronzes. (in French)
See also Medici lions Marzocco Cultural depictions of lions Chinese guardian lions
References
Literature Richard Delbrueck: Antike Porphyrwerke, Berlin/Leipzig 1932 (Studien zur spätantiken Kunstgeschichte 6), page 60 (in German, referenced on Google Books and uni-koeln.de)