Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990
103
Stele of a Lady and Her Servant
The surfaces are in good condition.
There are akroteria on the top of the molded pediment. The upper third of the relief is blank, the surface seemingly prepared for an inscription. In the inset frame, a lady is seated to the right, spinning, on a backless seat with a cushion and a footstool. The maid facing her holds a mirror in her raised right hand.
Save that this stele appears to belong to the late Hellenistic period rather than firmly in the era of the Roman Empire, the remarks made in connection with and the parallels adduced for the companion stele from the Department of the Classics Collection, described below, could well apply here.
In addition to examples in Leiden (see below), the stele of Phila from the Cook collection at Richmond is a more elaborate, finished version of what we see here (Reinach, 1909-1912, II, p. 532, no. 3; Strong, 1908, pl. 12). The feeling is that, even when the provenance is not known, these stelai carved under Attic influence come from elsewhere on the mainland or the Greek islands, as a group in the National Museum in Athens, form such diverse places as Rhenea next to Delos, Hermione in the Peloponnesus, or the island of Tenos (Reinach, 1909-1912, II, p. 395, nos. 3, 4, and 7).
Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer
