Roman Sarcophagus. Severe Dynasty, 193 - 235 ... Lot n° 70

Roman Sarcophagus. Severe Dynasty, AD 193 - 235. Proconessian marble. PROVENANCE: Italian collection, 17th - 19th century.- Collection of the Barony of Bagot, Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire, where the sarcophagus was used as a planter in the inner courtyard of the main building.- Sold the entire contents of Blithfield Hall (including the sarcophagus) at the John German Ralh Pay auction, Wednesday 7 June 1978.- Purchased by Miss Christine Lewis at the John German Ralh Pay auction; The Great House, Kegworth, until 2019. CONSERVATION:The sarcophagus is preserved complete, except for the lid. The sarcophagus is in generally good condition. Repaired from original fragments, with historic restorations (17th-19th century Italy), at the top of the central niche and small holes in the sides and front restored. Some of the iron and lead staples remain. The head of the goddess Diana is missing and there is general erosion caused by the long period it has been in the open air. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Press cuttings from the auction of the contents of Blithfield Hall by the firm of John German Ralh Pay in 1978 - Original letters between Christine Lewis and the British Museum discussing the period and details of the sarcophagus dated February and June 1986. Measurements: 223 cm. (L.) x 69 cm. (H.). Weight: 951.6 kg. This important sarcophagus, of large dimensions, is worked with figures in high relief and linear ornamentation in the shape of an 'S' (strigils) on the front and on two of the sides. It belongs to a type of sarcophagus known as 'strigillate sarcophagi', which became popular in Rome between the 2nd and 4th centuries. These sarcophagi were placed in hypogea and family mausoleums, where several tombs were placed together touching each other on the sides, or arranged in narrow niches. For this reason the sides are always worked in a lower relief, as this avoids breakage in the event of rubbing against other sarcophagi or the walls of the niches. Good examples of this are the mausoleum Z "of the Egyptians" in the Vatican cemetery, where the sarcophagi were placed in niches, or the example of tomb 11 of the "Isola Sacra" in Fiumicino, where the sides of the sarcophagi touch each other. Between the strigil zones, in the central part of the sarcophagus there is a temple supported by two Solomonic columns with the mythological figure of Meleager (in a position derived from the creation of the Greek sculptor Scopas). He is depicted nude and wearing a chlamys. To his right is the figure of Atalanta, wearing a chiton, with a quiver at her feet and a hunting dog. To the left of Meleager is the figure of a wounded hunter. Shields and double axes were carved on each of the sides, alluding to the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons, a motif much repeated in the metropolitan production of Rome. The closest parallel, in terms of decorative scheme, is a sarcophagus in the Roman National Museum, dated to the 160s AD, with almost identical decoration. The sarcophagus production industry was supplied by the Luni-Carrara and Pronnesian quarries. Pronnesian marble is characterised by its white colour and cerulean sfumature, uniform or with bluish-grey veins. The quarries, under Imperial ownership, were located in the present-day Turkish towns of Monastyr, Kavala and Saraylar, on the island of Marmara or the Proconnesian island of the Propontide or Sea of Marmara, which in Roman times was administratively dependent on the ancient city of Cizico on the Anatolian coast.