CIRCA 3RD CENTURY A.D.

細節

A ROMAN MARBLE LION HEAD PROTOME
CIRCA 3RD CENTURY A.D.
Likely from the proper right end of a strigillated sarcophagus, the lion's realistic features well modelled and defined by deep drill work, the mane a series of thick curving and overlapping locks framing the face, the brow furrowed, the lidded eyes deeply recessed beneath protruding brows, the pupils and irises articulated, the gaze directed up and to the proper right, with grooved whiskers and nostrils, the open mouth perhaps once gripping a ring handle and later drilled through for secondary use as a fountain
16¾ in. (42.5 cm.) high

來源

with Robert Miller Gallery, New York, 1985-1986.

拍品專文

This head likely belongs to a large group of lion head protomes on lenoi, or trough sarcophagi, mostly sculpted in Rome and Ostia. The lenos is similar in form to an ancient wine trough, and the lion heads may be interpreted as spouts for new wine as the grapes are pressed. As wine is often symbolic of Dionysus, the lenos may then be connected with the god's mystery rites and the hope for the renewal of life. In the 3rd century A.D., strigillated lenoi decorated with lion heads gained popularity as a less expensive alternative to figural sarcophagi, as more social and economic groups incorporated the use of sarcophagi into their burial practices. The absence of explicitly pagan imagery also permitted the re-use in early Christian contexts for many of these sarcophagi. For two similar lion protomes and a panel of a strigillated sarcophagus with lion protomes see nos. 39 and 40, p. 35 in Walker, Catalogue of Roman Sarcophagi in the British Museum. See also the strigillated sarcophagus in the Louvre no. 132, pp. 223-224 in Baratte and Metzger, Catalogue des sarcophages en Pierre d'époques romaine et paléochrétienne.