
Francesca Hickin
Head of Department
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£6,000 - £8,000
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Head of Department

Senior Specialist
Provenance:
Reinhold Hofstätter (1927-2013) collection, Vienna, acquired in the 1980s.
with Rudolf Mahringer, Vienna, 2018.
The seasons were popular motifs on sarcophagi, particularly during the 3rd Century A.D., as 'symbols of immortality and rebirth' (A. McCann, Roman Sarcophagi in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1978, p. 136). The inclusion of the cornucopia and depiction of the youth as returning from the hunt is consistent with iconography often representing the season Autumn. For a similar fragmentary sarcophagus depicting Autumn and Summer, see the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acc. no. 58.584.