A ROMAN MARBLE SARCOPHAGUS PANEL

ANTONINE PERIOD, CIRCA 160 A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE SARCOPHAGUS PANEL
ANTONINE PERIOD, CIRCA 160 A.D.
From the front panel of a sarcophagus, depicting a centauromachy in high relief, with the Lapiths and Centaurs engaged in battle at the wedding of Perithoös and Hippodameia, the Greek warriors all depicted nude, the half-equine monsters all bearded with unruly hair on their human heads, the violent scene framed by two draped female onlookers, perhaps wedding guests and the bride freed from their abduction, each wearing a high-belted tunic with a mantle billowing over her head, the battle scene, from left to right, including a Lapith kneeling upon the back of a centaur, the monster falling to his knees as the Lapith stabs him with a dagger under his arm, the centaur gripped along his raised left arm by a second attacking Lapith who wields a dagger in his lowered right hand, a mantle hanging over his arm, a draped female figure in low relief behind, her mantle billowing over her head, further to the right the central scene composed of three centaurs and two Lapiths, both Greek warriors raising their shields, the central centaur in profile to the left, supporting the arms of a fallen comrade collapsed before him, a centaur behind rearing as he prepares to hurl a branch at his enemy, a draped female figure in low relief behind, to the right a Lapith stepping on the back of a fallen centaur to face a rearing centaur, both raising their armed right hands, the fallen centaur with his foreleg over the side of an amphora, alluding to the inebriation that led to the mêlée, all framed within an upper and lower border
77 in. (195.6 cm.) wide

Provenance

with Ars Antiqua, Lucerne, 1960s.
Stirt Collection, Switzerland.

Lot Essay

The battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs was a popular subject in the Greek world, especially in the 5th century B.C., where it was prominently portrayed on the west pediment at the temple of Zeus at Olympia, the west frieze of the Hephaisteion in Athens and the metopes of the Parthenon. As Padgett explains (The Centaur's Smile, The Human Animal in Early Greek Art, p. 17), the theme of centauromachy "came to symbolize the defeat of barbarism, in particular, the Persian."

The myth remained prevalent into the Roman Period, and was popularized again by Ovid in the late 1st century B.C. to early 1st century A.D. (Metamorphoses 12). While Centaurs appear on several Dionysiac sarcophagi in the Roman Period, the depiction of a centauromachy on a Roman sarcophagus is quite rare. The only other known example depicting the myth, and sculpted in a similar style, is in Ostia (see no. 404a, p. 463 in Sengelin "Kentauroi et Kentaurides" in LIMC). Guntrum Koch suggests (personal correspondence with the owner) that the present example is an important addition to the corpus of existing Roman sarcophagi, and that it was likely produced in the same workshop.

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