CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

TWO ROMAN MARBLE SARCOPHAGUS PANELS
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
28 in. (71 cm.) wide max.

Provenance

Nicolas Koutoulakis (1910-1996), Paris and Geneva; thence by descent to the present owner.

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice. Following the auction, this lot will be stored at Crozier Park Royal and will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day after the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 I Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

Both panels appear to come from the short sides of a sarcophagus and they still show the holes for the metal clamps which were used to seal the lid.

See Arachne database no. 21255 for another early Antonine sarcophagus decorated with a dionysiac scene and a centaur on one of the short sides now in the Museo Gregoriano Profano, Rome (inv. no. 10425). Centaurs appear on several Dionysiac sarcophagi in the Roman Period, playing their part in the riotous retinue of Dionysos. A sarcophagus in the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, Michigan (inv no: KM 1981.03.0001) shows a young centaur playing the pipes and draped in a floral garland and another in the Louvre (inv. no: Ma 286) shows centaurs taking part in a bacchic procession, see no. 63, pp. 134-135 in F. Baratte and C. Metzger, Musée du Louvre, Catalogue des sarcophages en pierre d'époques romaine et paléochrétienne. For the theme in general see T. Sengelin "Kentauroi et Kentaurides", LIMC, Vol VIII, p. 715-721.

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