Francesca Hickin
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Lot 115
A Roman marble fragmentary children's sarcophagus
28 November 2017, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £6,875 inc. premium
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A Roman marble fragmentary children's sarcophagus
Circa mid-2nd Century A.D.
Forming one end of the sarcophagus, the front carved in relief with a winged erote standing next to a basket from which escapes a sinuous serpent, another basket of fruit (?) stacked above, two further erotes playing to one side, the end panel carved with an erote wearing a large bearded theatrical mask with his hand projecting from the mouth of the mask to scare another winged erote standing in front, at the corner a column with a thyrsos emerging from behind, the back section blank, 45cm long, 35cm wide, 25cm high
Circa mid-2nd Century A.D.
Forming one end of the sarcophagus, the front carved in relief with a winged erote standing next to a basket from which escapes a sinuous serpent, another basket of fruit (?) stacked above, two further erotes playing to one side, the end panel carved with an erote wearing a large bearded theatrical mask with his hand projecting from the mouth of the mask to scare another winged erote standing in front, at the corner a column with a thyrsos emerging from behind, the back section blank, 45cm long, 35cm wide, 25cm high
Footnotes
Provenance:
Natalia Timofejeff collection, Stockolm, 1976.
This sarcophagus falls into the category described by Peter Kranz as the 'sarcophagi with erotes with Dionysiac theme'; see P. Kranz, Die Stadtrömischen Eroten-Sarkophage, Berlin, 1995, pp. 27-32. Similar scenes as depicted on the present sargophagus, including the erote wearing a theatrical mask and the serpent escaping from the basket, can be found in various compositions in a number of sarcophagi, for example one from Villa Albani in Rome (ibid, no. 106).
It seems that by the 2nd Century A.D. the theatrical mask worn by a putto had assumed an apotropaic function derived from its association with the Dionysiac cult. This led to a popularity for this iconographic motif in the decoration of children's sarcophagi; see B. Palma Venetucci, Continuità di un motivo iconografico ellenistico: il putto con la maschera, in S. Stucchi and M. Bonanno Aravantinos (ed.), Giornate di studio in onore di Achille Adriani: Roma 26-27 novembre 1984, Rome, 1991, p. 235.