A Roman Marble Column Sarcophagus Fragment, Asia Minor, circa A.D. 250-260
Lot Closed
December 17, 04:26 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A Roman Marble Column Sarcophagus Fragment, Asia Minor
circa A.D. 250-260
carved in high relief on the left with the head of Virtus wearing a crested helmet, on the right within a niche with the head of a Dioskouros wearing a pilos and chlamys fastened on his right shoulder, and above with a winged figure of Scylla flanked by tritons and seahorses, the continuous frieze across pediment, entablature, and arch finely carved with egg-and-dart and other mouldings; no restorations.
55 by 68 by 17 cm.
private collection, reputedly acquired by the owner's late father at auction in the 1960s in Vienna
private collection, acquired from the above in 2013
Guntram Koch, Die mythologischen Sarkophage. Meleager (Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs, vol. XII.6), Berlin, 1975, p. 52
Carola Reinsberg, Die Sarkophage mit Darstellungen aus dem Menschenleben. Vita Romana (Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs, vol. I.3), Berlin, 2006, p. 241, no. 168
Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch, London, Antiquities including the Collection of Ernst Langlotz (1895-1978), 2013, no. 33, illus.
Sotheby's, June 12th, 2017, no. 65, illus.
Based on size, style, architectural details, and iconography, the present fragment is thought to come from the same sarcophagus as another fragment in the Vatican showing the head of a horse, most likely the horse belonging to the Dioskouros: Reinsberg (op. cit.), p. 235, no. 148, pl. 46,3–4.
Part of the upper body of Virtus and the upper part of the column between the two figures were still preserved when the fragment was photographed in the Lanckoronski collection. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
On the Lanckorónski collection of ancient sculpture see W. Oenbrink, "Die ehemalige Skulpturensammlung des Grafen Karol Lanckoronski (1848-1933) in Wien," in J. Sliwa, ed., Archeologia Sródziemnomorska w Uniwersytecie Jagiellonskim 1897-1997, Kolloquium Krakau 1997, 1998, pp. 159 ff.