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A Roman marble decorative architectural fragment image 1
A Roman marble decorative architectural fragment image 2
A Roman marble decorative architectural fragment image 3
A Roman marble decorative architectural fragment image 4
A Roman marble decorative architectural fragment image 5
A Roman marble decorative architectural fragment image 6
A Roman marble decorative architectural fragment image 7
A Roman marble decorative architectural fragment image 8
Lot 83W

Amended
Antiquities
1 May 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £11,250 inc. premium

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A Roman marble decorative architectural fragment
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
Probably from a column, of rectangular cross-section, with relief decoration on all four sides, the front decorated with a central stalk with curving fronds, a plant sprouting to the left of it with overlapping leafy sprays of ivy and clusters of berries, a small bird in flight pecking at one of the fruits, two birds below, the reverse with a similar scene but with a rectangular carved opening at the top with a cyclindrical vertical shaft through the centre, possibly from re-use as a fountain in post-Antiquity, the narrower sides of the fragment also decorated with curling leafy fronds, the left side with a small bird and bee in flight, 20in x 15in x 12in (51cm x 38cm x 30.5cm)

Footnotes

Provenance:
UK private collection, acquired on the London art market in early 2000s.
David Knight (d. 1992) Collection, acquired from Christie's, London, in the mid-1980s.

Literature:
Such decorative motifs were employed throughout the Roman period and can be seen on cineraria, altars, columns and pilasters. For a similar decorative column fragment cf. T. Opper, Hadrian. Empire and Conflict, London, 2008, pp. 156-157.

For similar decorative motives employed elsewhere cf. C. Vermuele, Roman Decorative Art, Boston, 1981, figs. 44 (table support), 55 (column), 62 (altar), 87 (cinerarium), 145 (pilasters). Also for a bird pecking at ivy berries on a cinerary urn at Chatsworth, cf. H. Oehler, Foto + Skulptur. Römische Antiken in Englischen Schlössern, Köln, 1980, fig. 78.

Saleroom notices

Please note that the current owner acquired the lot in 1992, not the early 2000s as described in the catalogue.

Additional information

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