Harvard Art Museums > 1971.92: Fragment of Sarcophagus Relief Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Fragment of Sarcophagus Relief , 1971.92,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 02, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/287375. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1971.92 Title Fragment of Sarcophagus Relief Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture Date c. 160 CE Period Roman Imperial period, Middle Culture Roman Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/287375 Physical Descriptions Medium Cyrstalline Greek island marble (perhaps from Thasos) Dimensions actual: 25.4 x 31.8 x 9 cm (10 x 12 1/2 x 3 9/16 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History From the art market in Rome (1968), along with a companion fragment, now in a private collection in London, showing the heads of Persephone's sisters witnessing her abduction by Hades, assisted by Athena (Koch, 1976, fig. 22a). Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Rowland, Jr. Accession Year 1971 Object Number 1971.92 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990123 Fragment of Sarcophagus Relief This fragment is broken on a diagonal axis. The head of Hermes is broken at the neck, as is the head of one of the horses. A portion of the molding remains above Hermes' head. Hermes is seen with two horses. The horses are facing to the right, and the head of one is two-thirds missing. Hermes is facing to the left. The section of heavy, fillet molding is preserved above the god's petasos. Guntram Koch illustrates two Rape of Persephone sarcophagi, once in the Palazzo Barberini, which give an excellent idea as to how the composition once looked. The figure of Hermes and the horses of the quadriga are usually at or just before the extreme right front end or corner of the sarcophagus. A geographical personification, Tellus (Earth) or Oceanus reclines right to left under the unquadrated, galloping legs of the horses (Koch, 1976, p. 108, figs. 20, 21a). Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer Publication History [Unidentified article], The Art Quarterly (1972), no. 35, p. 186 Guntram Koch, "Verschollene Mythologische Sarkophage", Archaologischer Anzeiger, Walter de Gruyter and Co. (Berlin, Germany, 1976), no. 1, pp. 101-110, pp. 108-109, no. 21, fig. 22b Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum Annual Report, 1972-1974 (Cambridge, MA, 1976), p. 84 Guntram Koch and Helmut Sichtermann, Römische Sarkophage, C. H. Beck (Munich, 1982), p. 176 Cornelius C. Vermeule III and Amy Brauer, Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 134, no. 123 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
