A Roman Marble Cinerary Urn and Lid, circa 1st Century A.D.
Lot Closed
December 17, 04:13 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A Roman Marble Cinerary Urn and Lid
circa 1st Century A.D.
of cylindrical form, carved in low relief in front with a blank rectangular panel flanked by confronted griffins standing with their head turned up and back, and on the back with a frontal erote emerging with arms and wings outstretched from a calyx of acanthus leaves linked to two rising scrolling stalks centering rosettes on either side, the top of the domed lid decorated with radiating overlapping pointed leaves, small rounded leaves below the knob; mortises below the rim of the chest for insertion of now missing lead clamps; no restorations.
Total height 57 cm.
The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1953-1973 (never formally accessioned into the collection)
private collection, Pittsfield and Florida, acquired in 1973 (Christie's, New York, December 9th, 2015, no. 59, illus.)
acquired at the above sale
For a typologically related example with scrolling vine in the back see D. Boschung, H. v. Hesberg, and A. Linfert, Die antiken Skulpturen in Chatsworth sowie in Dunham Massey und Withington Hall, 1997, no. 88 (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/4176).