sarcophagus
- Museum number
- 1861,0523.11
- Description
-
Fragment of marble sarcophagus, probably of Pentelic marble; cornice; ornamented with arabesques; A winged female figure emerges from acanthus leaves, holding in each hand the stem of a calyx of the plant. Behind her elbows rise buds on tendrils, bursting into flower. To the right, a deer springs in front of a flower. On the far right, a male figure emerges from a flower. A band across the chest most likely represents a cloak. This figure may well be Cupid. Below is a double row of egg and tongue moulding and a single bead-and-reel.
- Dimensions
-
Height: 25.90 centimetres
-
Thickness: 12.20 centimetres
-
Width: 32.10 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Walker, Susan, 1990, Catalogue of Roman Sarcophagi in the British Museum:
Smith, III, 339 no. 2341.
The female figure is adapted from Hellenistic images of Artemis as goddess of nature.(1) The execution of the frieze is similar to that of the sarcophagus from the Tomb of Caecilia Metella on the Via Appia, now in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome, and a sarcophagus in Salonica decorated with a scene from the underworld, possibly the judgement of Orestes.(2) The latter is dated by Giuliano and Palma to c. AD 185 and by Koch and Sichtermann to AD 200-25.(3) As in the case of Walker, no. 44 (1861.0220.1), there seems no good reason to doubt Giuliano and Palma's earlier dating; the rendering is spirited and naturalistic, and the formal decorative mouldings are carved in high relief with rounded forms.
1. J. M. C. Toynbee-J. B. Ward-Perkins, PBSR N.S. V (1950), 1 43.
2. Pal. Farnese: Toynbee and Ward-Perkins, op. cit. (n. 1), 2, pl. xxx.1; a Severan date is suggested; G. Pisani Sartorio-R. Calza, La Villa di Massenzio sulla Via Appia (Rome 1976), 206 ff pl. 31-2; Koch-Sichtermann, 274. Salonica: Giuliano-Palma, 22 no. 1, pl. XV.
3. Idem, 58 s.v. 'Maestro di Oreste'; Koch-Sichtermann, 367 n. 20, 418 n. 42.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Broken below and at both sides. The surface, particularly of the lower mouldings, is badly weathered. At the back, the upper surface is re-cut. A cutting near the top was probably
made for a mount. Below, the original interior surface was worked regularly if roughly with a point.
- Acquisition date
- 1861
- Acquisition notes
- The fragment was obtained in Greece in 1803 by the fourth Earl.
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1861,0523.11