sarcophagus
- Museum number
- 1900,1029.1
- Description
-
Clazomenian terracotta sarcophagus. Headpiece, two-bodied sphinx between two lions. Upper corner strip, meander and square. Upper panel, St. Andrew's cross: above and below, band of broken meander. Sidepiece, cable and palmette. Lower panel, spiral and palmettes: above on right and below on both left and right, band of broken meander. Lower corner strip, double wavy line. Footpiece, continuous pattern of volutes and palmettes. Edges: outside, undecorated; inside, clumsy S-shaped blobs.
- Production date
- 575BC-550BC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 192 centimetres
-
Width: 56 centimetres (at foot)
-
Width: 69 centimetres (at head)
- Curator's comments
- CVA British Museum 8
For the sphinx with one head to two bodies compare Kiel 269 (Acta Arch vi, 189 fig. 14 - in the upper panel: though parts are missing, it is highly likely that there could have been only one head). In both instances lack of space is a possible reason for the monstrosity: the painter of our sarcophagus apparently began at the right and he may have done one lion and most of one sphinx before he realized he had misplanned. The St. Andrew's cross, spiral and palmettes, and double wavy line are characteristic of the Hopkinson group (see JHS 1936, 60), though the forms on this sarcophagus are not quite normal; the cross has doubled diagonals, the palmettes are exuberant, the wavy lines of the right corner lack the straight central member. The volutes and palmettes of the footpiece fit neatly in a series. The ancestor is the continuous volute, of the type that appears in Fikellura (see, for example, Pl. GB 580, 2 and 4). This volute with palmettes neatly disposed to emphasize its curves was used by the Albertinum painter (to whose group the numbers quoted refer) for narrow bands, sometimes singly (nos. 2 and 3 - on the headpiece; no. 16 - on the edge of the 'gable') and sometimes doubled (no. 17 - in the lower corner strip; no. 18 - down the middle of the sidepiece, though here the palmettes are, as often, solid). Later, as the style of the sarcophagi grew simpler, the doubled volute became more important and on this sarcophagus occupies the whole field of the footpiece. A later stage is shown by the Hopkinson painter's no. 5, where it fills the headpiece and its palmettes are clumsily rearranged: but a trace of the old elegance may still be observed at the right of the footpiece of his no. 1, where the rest of the pattern follows a different form. For the decoration of the edges compare sarcophagi of the Hopkinson painter.
JHS 1936, 61 no. 6 (the description partly incorrect). A. W. Byvanck, l’Antiquité Classique 1948, 100-G.8.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Face only preserved.
- Acquisition date
- 1900
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1900,1029.1
