Lot 174
Roman / Near East, Late Imperial / Early Byzantine, ca. 4th to 7th century CE. A remarkable stone ossuary that grants a fascinating glimpse into Roman mortuary tradition. Skillfully hand-sculpted, the chest is embellished by relief garlands representing the real swags of leaves and fruit that were used to adorn altars and tombs, while a human head is featured on each side - one in profile possibly depicting the deceased and the other frontal with sizable ears suggesting he may be a faun or satyr. The garlands are suspended by bucrania featured in each corner. One of the shorter sides of the ossuary displays a quartered rectangle resembling a window with 2 rosettes in the upper quarters, possibly indicating that the vessel is unfinished. Note the petite striations that decorate the field, creating a textured surface as though entirety of the vessel has been overgrown by grass. Size: 20.8" L x 10.3" W x 11.8" H (52.8 cm x 26.2 cm x 30 cm)
Romans who lived in the eastern part of the empire - especially Jewish people in the Holy Land - commonly used ossuaries instead of large stone sarcophagi, and this chest likely comes from that region. This example, however, is still rife with Roman mortuary iconography. The palmettes serve as symbols of rebirth, while the rosettes are commonly associated with mourning and death as the depicting of these flowers as perpetually ageless serves as an expression of the Roman belief the soul's continued existence. Romans also thought of the bones or ashes of the deceased of generating flowers, as another Roman epitaph reads: "Here lies Optatus, a child ennobled by devotion: I pray that his ashes may be violets and roses, and I ask that the Earth, who is his mother now, be light upon him, for the boy's life was a burden to no one." (J.M.C. Toynbee, Death and Burial in the Roman World [Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971, 1996], pp. 37)
Similar sarcophagi can be found in Turkey at the Alanya Archaeological Museum, Bodrum Castle, and the Adana Archaeology Museum.
Provenance: East Coast collection, New York Gallery, New York City, New York, USA, acquired before 2010
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#174724
- Condition: Some chipping to rim, peripheries of base, and other raised areas with some small areas of loss. Expected nicks and abrasions, commensurate with age. Otherwise, intact and very good with nice remaining detail.
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