Large Roman funerary stela with high relief
Price: on request
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Object number
AR3270
| Object: |
Roman funeral relief with tabula ansata
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| Material: |
Limestone
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| Date: |
2nd century A.D. Roman Empire |
| Description: |
Rectangular tombstone showing an elaborate scene in high relief, clearly inspired by the classical funerary banquet scenes. The deceased is resting on a kline to the left, with his torso half-raised. His left arm is below the body, the extended right arm is pointing to a tabula ansata situated in the upper left corner. He is wearing a long tunica and cloak above his shoulder and draped around the left arm, the hip and the thigh. The curly hair, full beard and the grave facial features are worked with a very high level of detail, as well as the details of the kline, e.g., the turned feet, the top with two cushions, the curved backrest. The tabula ansata most likely originally featured a painted inscription, possibly a short epigraph. |
| Size: |
Width 58.5 cm, height 35.5 cm, depth 8.6 cm. Weight 32 kg.
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| Condition: |
Excellent condition. Some surface chips, but only very minor wear, the high relief outline is still sharp. Back side coarsely worked. Possibly remains of original painting on the surface.
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| Literature: |
M. Mattern, Römische und frühchristliche Grabsteine (De Gruyter 2003) B. E. Borg, Roman Tombs and the Art of Commemoration (Cambridge University Press 2019) |
| Provenance: |
Acquired 2020 from the Swiss private collection P. Bonsera. Acquired 2020 from Jean-David Cahn, Basel, Switzerland. Ex French private collection Peccatier (Paris), acquired in the 1980s.
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| Authenticity: |
We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.
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