- Museum number
- 1805,0703.211
- Description
-
Marble Greek epitaph: relief of a skeleton with an epitaph in verse.
- Production date
- 2ndC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 40 millimetres
-
Height: 430 millimetres
-
Weight: 12 kilograms
-
Thickness: 6.35 centimetres
-
Width: 340 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Cook 2011, nr. 16:
’A B: relief with a Skeleton and a Greek inscription’ (TY 10/6).
Formerly in the Villa Burioni (Parlour Catalogue owned by Simon Townley, 1804 Parlour Catalogue).
Bought from Piranesi on 20 May 1768 for 8 Scudi (TY 8/2), for which an equivalent of £1 is given as the price paid in TY 10/6, with an estimated value of £5. It is not listed in TY 10/1-3 or TY 10/5.
In the First Townley Inventory (vases, etc., 27), Townley incorrectly gave the dealer as Pacilli, and this error was repeated by Smith.
Drawings:
* Townley drawings 2010,5006.286 and 2010,5006.1877.29.
Date:
Probably second to early third century (Dunbabin)
Bibliography:
- Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum (post-1808#) XI.14, 4.
- A. H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Vol. III (London 1904), 363-4, no. 2391, fig. 55.
- Susan Walker, Memorials to the Roman Dead (London 1985), 62, fig. 50.
- Katherine M. B. Dunbabin, ‘Sic erimus cuncti. The Skeleton in Graeco-Roman Art’ JdI 101 (1986), 244-5, fig. 54.
- CIG 6309.
- IG XIV.2131.
- GIBM = Ancient Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum (Oxford 1874-1916), 1114.
- B. F. Cook, Greek Inscriptions (London 1987), 26, 28, fig. 19.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1999 1 Dec-2000 24 Sep, London, The Queen’s House, The Story of Time
2009, 2 Apr-13 Oct, Alicante, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2010, 30 Apr-30 Aug, Seoul, National Museum of Korea, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2010-2011, 15 Oct-07 Feb, Taipei, The National Palace Museum, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2010-2011, 11 Mar-12 Jun, Kobe City Museum, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2011, 4 July-25 Sept, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2011-2012, 25 Oct-12 Feb, Mexico City, National Anthropological Museum, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2012-2013, 6 Oct-6 Jan, Portland Art Museum, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2013, 6 May-6 Oct, Dallas Museum of Art, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2014, 21 Feb-9 Jun, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2014, 2 Aug -9 Nov, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia, The Body Beautiful in Greek Art and Thought
2015, 26 Mar-5 Jul, The British Museum, Defining Beauty: the body in ancient Greek art.
2021 - 2022 27 Apr – 16 Jan, Madrid, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
2022 16 Feb – 29 May, Seville, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
2022 28 Jun - 9 Oct, Zaragoza, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
2022 -2023 22 Nov - 9 Apr, Palma, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
2023 4 July - 22 Oct, Barcelona, Caixa Forum, “Human Image”
- Acquisition date
- 1805
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1805,0703.211
