A ROMAN MARBLE SARCOPHAGUS FRAGMENT

According to D. Willers (p. 232 in C.R. Rüger, et al., op. cit.), this lively fragment – preserving the heads of two men, an outstretched right hand, and perhaps the remnant of a liknon (a two-handled basket) – originates from a sarcophagus likely depicting the death of Adonis. As Willers observes, “On our fragment there may be two hunting companions, one of whom stretches out the arm holding the bow. The heads are rendered in flatter relief, whereas the hand and ‘bow’ are undercut and worked free. This indicates that the heads belong to the background figures of the action.”

For a complete sarcophagus depicting the death of Adonis, where similar subsidiary figures can be observed, compare the one in the Vatican, pl. 3, no. 12 in C. Robert, Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs, vol. II.