Lot Essay
For similar examples see nos. 143-153 in Budde and Nicholls, A Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Sculpture in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
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PROPERTY OF PROFESSOR AND MRS. SID PORT
A ROMAN MARBLE GRAVE ALTAR
CIRCA LATE 1ST-EARLY 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Details
A ROMAN MARBLE GRAVE ALTAR
Circa Late 1st-Early 2nd Century A.D.
Rectangular in form, the tabula inscribed, DIS MANIBVS IVNIAE CORINTHIDI M IVINIUS SATYR L SVAE BENEMERENTI, "To the deified spirit of Junius (of the) Corinthians. Marcus Iunius Satyr (made it) for his kind freedman," with a deeply-drilled garland of pinecones, fruits and flowers supporting a sleeping figure of a young girl, wearing a mantle across her lower body which exposes her torso, her right arm across her breasts, surrounded by a youth, a bird and a sleeping rabbit, a larger rabbit nibbling at fruit spilled from a basket between two winged Erotes below, the upper corners each with a nude Eros holding a cornucopia, swans below with gracefully arching necks; the sides each decorated with a garland of ivy and berries hanging from the horns of a ram's head at the back corners, a swan and a mythological creature below, the garlands enclosing an oinochoe and two birds on the left side, a phiale and bird on the right, the upper third hollowed out to receive the ashes of the deceased, the lid now missing
24¾ in. (68 cm) high
Circa Late 1st-Early 2nd Century A.D.
Rectangular in form, the tabula inscribed, DIS MANIBVS IVNIAE CORINTHIDI M IVINIUS SATYR L SVAE BENEMERENTI, "To the deified spirit of Junius (of the) Corinthians. Marcus Iunius Satyr (made it) for his kind freedman," with a deeply-drilled garland of pinecones, fruits and flowers supporting a sleeping figure of a young girl, wearing a mantle across her lower body which exposes her torso, her right arm across her breasts, surrounded by a youth, a bird and a sleeping rabbit, a larger rabbit nibbling at fruit spilled from a basket between two winged Erotes below, the upper corners each with a nude Eros holding a cornucopia, swans below with gracefully arching necks; the sides each decorated with a garland of ivy and berries hanging from the horns of a ram's head at the back corners, a swan and a mythological creature below, the garlands enclosing an oinochoe and two birds on the left side, a phiale and bird on the right, the upper third hollowed out to receive the ashes of the deceased, the lid now missing
24¾ in. (68 cm) high
Provenance
Hagop Kevorkian Fund, New York
Antiquities, Sotheby Parke Bernet New York, 22 November 1974, lot 249
Antiquities, Sotheby Parke Bernet New York, 22 November 1974, lot 249