Fragment of Sarcophagus with Mourning Cupid (torso only)

Sculpture

-

Hammond Castle Museum

Name/Title

Fragment of Sarcophagus with Mourning Cupid (torso only)

Entry/Object ID

HM-407

Description

Fragment of Sarcophagus with Mourning Cupid Roman Imperial Period Probably late 2nd to early 3rd century CE Material Proconnesian marble, large grain, slightly bluish, semi-translucent Dimensions 52.5 cm (height) x ca. 20 cm (length) Condition Missing: head, feet, much of the left hand, most of the wings, and most of the torch. Much of the surface badly battered. Description The figure comes from the corner of a sarcophagus. The nude cupid has crossed his left leg over his straight right leg and has raised his right hand to his left shoulder. He holds in his lowered left hand a turned-down torch. Traces of his wing are visible to his right. His head was originally inclined to his left. The flesh is softly—and brilliantly—rendered. Discussion The wings identify the child as a cupid; the turned-down torch indicates death; and the cupid’s lowered head shows he is mourning for the deceased. He was probably matched with a mirror image on the opposite corner of the sarcophagus. Often the pair is found on strigillated sarcophagi with a portrait of the deceased or mythological figure or figures in the middle, and so the cupids can also be understood as acting like guardian figures. Provenance This may very well be one of the seven marble fragments obtained by Armando Pacifici in March 1927 from Siniscalchib and Arturo Dolcetti, both of Rome. Notes For dating, interpretation of cupid as a guardian figure, and position on sarcophagi: Janet Huskinson, Roman Strigillated Sarcophagi: Art and Social History (Oxford: University Press, 2015), pp. 99, 108, 172. For provenance documents: Hammond Castle Museum Archives, documents 1929-07-16 ca from Armando Pacifici (List of 13 Cases, copy 2 with more notes) p(1) and p(2).

Collection

Sculpture

Acquisition

Accession

407

Made/Created

Place

Location

Roman

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Relief

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Sculpture

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Provenance

Notes

L. LaVita February 1927 700 lire ($36.84 in 1930, $585.61 in 2021)

General Notes

Note Type

1929-07-16 ca from Armando Pacifici (List of 13 Cases