MONUMENTAL ARA ROME, END OF THE I - II CENTURY... Lot 134

MONUMENTAL ARA ROME, END OF THE I - II CENTURY A.D. A parallelepiped altar in fine-grained white marble made from a single monumental block carved on all four sides with the image of an aedicule. The block presents in its upper part a frieze with acanthus spirals placed above a frame with elaborate molding. This frame was delimited by capitals (or rather pilaster strips) of Corinthian order, preserved to a limited extent. At the center of each face of the altar, on the other hand, an aedicule is clearly visible. This, projecting from the surface of the bottom, is characterized by a triangular pediment supported by a denticulated frame, an architrave and two twisted columns of Corinthian order. The aedicule is decorated in relief by a circular crown to which are knotted elaborate vittae that unfold occupying the entire frontonal space. The architrave is instead decorated by a frieze with garlands and bucrania. At the center of the aedicule there are some niches in the shape of shell valves, made with accurate realism. within these niches stood out the image of the honored figure that traces of cloak allow you to recognize as male. At the center of the altar runs a circular section of libatory pipe, intended for the pouring of offerings from the surface to the underground cavity. 90 x 95 x 90 cm. Product of high formal quality, probably belonging to a monumental tomb of great architectural commitment, this altar is distinguished by the elaborate type of architectural game - which in this case contaminates two different structures: the quadrangular one of the altar with a frieze of spirals and Corinthian columns and that of the aedicule. This play appears, even more pronounced, in a hexagonal altar from the Severan age in the Archaeological Museum of Seville (o. Rodríguez Gutiérrez, El teatro romano de Itálica. Estudio arqueoarquitectónico. Monografias de arquitectura romana 6, Madrid 2004, pp. 556-557: Arachne no. 1115922). The type of decoration, and in particular the form of the frieze with vegetal spirals, finds comparisons with the production of friezes of this type dating from the end of the 1st century AD (M. Mathea-Förtsch, Römische Rankenpfeiler und -pilaster.Schmuckstützen mit vegetabilem Dekor, vornehmlich aus Italien und den westlichen Provinzen, Mainz 1999); see by way of example the aedicula da todi in the Vatican Museums (Arachne no. 1171386). Provenance Private collection The Soprintendenza ABAP Florence, Pistoia and Prato intends to declare this lot of particularly important archaeological interest