Roman Sarcophagus Fragment Marble Relief with Eros, Attribution Verified, c. 2nd Century A.D.

(Roman Sarcophagus Fragment)

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Item No.
29.35433
Culture
Roman, c. 1st-2nd Century A.D. 
Item Details.
White marble, fine-grained. The fragment preserves the head of a child or youthful figure, turned slightly to its right and carved almost fully in the round, undercut so deeply that only the mass of the hair remains attached to the ground. The face is broad and rounded, with full cheeks, a small chin and fleshy lips slightly parted. The upper lids are heavy and the eyeballs are left plain, with neither incised iris nor drilled pupil. The hair is arranged in thick wavy locks combed back from the forehead into a broad mass framing the face, the strands separated by running drill channels; the ear is left largely free of the hair. Traces of earth encrustation over the surface. The unfinished reverse establishes that the piece comes from a relief designed to be seen from one side only, and the depth of the undercutting indicates a composition carved in high relief against a solid ground. Among Roman reliefs of this construction a sarcophagus is the most economical explanation for a figure of this scale and character. The proportions are those of a subsidiary figure within a frieze: the complete figure would have stood roughly 25 to 30 cm, which suits an Eros of the kind that carries garlands or fills the field between the principal scenes. A young female figure cannot be excluded on the present evidence. The deep drill channels between the locks point to a developed Imperial workshop practice, while the plain, unarticulated eyes are not what would be expected on a principal figure from the Antonine period onwards, where the incised iris and drilled pupil are standard.

Provenance: French private collection, acquired in the 1960s. Ex Bonham’s auction 2011.

Attribution verified by accredited archaeologist, specialist in Ancient Mediterranean Ceramics and Numismatics.

Display stand included

Size
7.1 cm L - 2 13/16 inches
Material
Marble 
Condition
Fragment  
Categories
Live Auction 33
Price.
US$ 2400
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