Name/Title
Sarcophagus Lid Fragment w Hunting SceneEntry/Object ID
HM-320Description
Fragment of a Sarcophagus Lid with Hunting Scene
Roman
Imperial Period
Ca. 240 CE.
Material
Marble, medium grain (ca. 1mm), brownish gold, traces of blue, most likely Greek.
Dimensions
40.6 cm (height) x 42 cm (length) x ca. 5.7 cm (thickness)
Condition
Left side of the lid partially preserved, surface badly weathered. See further below.
Description
A partially preserved hunting scene appears on the right side of the fragment; separated by a vertical border, the back of an akroterion is on the left.
Virtus, the personification of manly courage, rushes to the side of a mounted hunter; a hunting attendant stands behind her. In the left corner, separated from the scene by a vertical border, are the long locks of a man's head, the remains of an acroterion. Virtus wears a short, sleeveless, belted "Amazonian dress" (sometimes called an exomis or chiton) that reveals her right breast; a mantle has been bunched over left shoulder, a brooch barely visible there. She wears a distinctive two-plumed helmet and a buckler over her right shoulder that holds the sword whose handle appears at her left hip. She extends her right hand towards the rider.
Little remains of the horse and rider. The back of the horse and its tail are partially visible. There is but the trace of the rider's bent right leg next to the extended right leg of Virtus. His raised upper right arm lies just to the right of Virtus's helmet. It is unclear if he held a spear or stretches out his hand in a gesture of victory. A few traces of his fluttering mantle can be seen between his arm and Virtus. It is uncertain if he was hunting a lion or other wild animal.
The attendant or hunting companion on the left stands next to the vertical border and appears to address a person on our left who has not been rendered but is understood to be beyond the border. Turning his head in that direction (and slightly down), the man seems to point with his right hand to Virtus and the rider. He holds in his left hand a spear that leans against his left shoulder. He is frontally oriented but his legs are directed to our left. He wears a sleeveless belted tunic and a mantle whose end is draped over his left forearm.
The poor condition and paucity of the locks of the akroterion preclude definitively determining what kind of head it portrayed, but the shape, size, and direction of the locks may suggest the head of an old bearded man often defined as a wind god by the small wings typically found towards his forelocks.
Discussion
The projected height of the lid--ca. 50 cm--suggests that this came from a very large and important sarcophagus.
Provenance
March 1927, Armando Pacifici purchased from A. Siniscalchib and Arturo Dolcetti seven Roman marble fragments. In all likelihood, among them was this relief. Pacifici, in turn, sold it to Hammond.
Bibliography
Unpublished; see Hammond Castle Museum archives.Collection
SculptureMade/Created
Notes
Date: mid to late 3rd centuryLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
ReliefNomenclature Primary Object Term
SculptureNomenclature Class
ArtNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsGeneral Notes
Note Type
1966 Corinne Witham Guidebook (28)Note Type
1966 Corinne Witham Guidebook (30)