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The Three Graces on a fluted Sarcophagus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

G. Rodenwaldt
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Extract

At the suggestion of Professor T. B. L. Webster these lines deal with the reliefs of a sarcophagus which, through the kindness of the owner, J. Baskervyle-Glegg, Esq., of Withington Hall, Chelford, is illustrated on Plates vi–viii. It has stood in the garden of Withington Hall since it was brought from Italy by the grandfather or great-grandfather of the present owner, perhaps when on his Grand Tour.

It is a fluted sarcophagus. The central relief shows the group of the three Graces before a curtain. The spaces on either side contain the figures of husband and wife, who were buried in the sarcophagus—on the left, the woman in the manner of the ‘petite Herculanaise,’ on the right, the man in classical toga. Both stand before the usual curtain (pl. vii). Only the main forms of the head are blocked out; the man was intended to have a beard. By the woman stands a little girl holding a box; by the man a boy is represented in an unusual running posture, carrying a vessel. Even if the final processes, which were still to come, are taken into account, the heads of the man and woman are disproportionately large, as is common in Roman art when the artist is a local craftsman. The corners of the sarcophagus are rounded; on each of the ends vertical fluting is followed by a pair of crossed shields, behind which axes and spears can be seen (pl. viii).

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , 1938 , pp. 60 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © G. Rodenwaldt 1938. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 For all information about the sarcophagus I am indebted to Professor T. B. L. Webster. Dimensions (outside) o f the sarcophagus: length, 7 ft. 2½in.; width, 2 ft. 6 in.; depth, 2 ft. 2½in.

2 Schoenebeck, H. v. (Arch. f. Religionswiss. xxxiv, 71, n. 2Google Scholar), assumes that a sarcophagus lid in the courtyard of the Palazzo Corsetti shows symbolical curtains without figures or busts. The lid has been reconstructed and restored from the remains of an example from which the busts have been cut out. H. Fuhrmann and F. W. Goethert had the kindness to confirm this last assumption from the original.

3 Cf. the corresponding figures on the sarcophagus in the Belvedere of the Vatican, Amelung, , Die Skulpturen des Vaticanischen Museums ii, 153 ff. Nr. 60, Taf. 17Google Scholar.

4 Apul., Met. vi, 24 (p. 427)Google Scholar.

5 Rev. arch., 1930, i, 280 ffGoogle Scholar.

6 Rodenwaldt, , Röm. Mitt. xxxviii–xxxix, 1923–1924, 24 ff.Google Scholar F. 1–4. In addition, the sarcophagus mentioned above in ‘Casale di Marco Simone.’

7 Cf. Amelung, , Die Skulpturen des Vaticanischen Museums ii, 696, Nr. 433Google Scholar.

8 O. Jahn, ‘Die Entführung der Europa auf antiken Kunstwerken,’ Denkschrift der phil.-hist. Classe der K. Akad. der Wissenschaften, Wien, 1869, 38 f.; Deonna, , Rev. arch. 1930, i, 296Google Scholar; Thes. Ling. Lai. vi, 2234 (‘Gratia personata’); Bieber, M., AJA xli, 1937, 507 fGoogle Scholar.

9 On the cult of the Charites, cf. Escher in P-W, s.v. ‘Charites,’ coll. 2153 ff.

10 Cf. Thes. Ling. Lat. vi, 2234.

11 Jones, H. Stuart, The Sculptures of the Museo Capitolino, p. 220, no. 93Google Scholar.

12 For further connections with Venus, Hymenaeus and Cupid, cf. Thes. Ling. Lat. vi, 2234.

13 See supra, p. 61, n. 6. Huelsen, Chr., Das Skizzenhuch des Giovannantonio Dosio im staatl. Kupferstichkabinett zu Berlin (1933), 50, pl. 139Google Scholar, has repeated his mistaken assertion that the drawing represents the sarcophagus in Pisa.

14 Cf. Rodenwaldt, , Gnomon i, 1926, 125Google Scholar. Morey had wrongly regarded the sarcophagus as Eastern, (‘The sarcophagus of Claudia Antonia Sabina,’ Sardis v, part 1, 1924, 52 ff.Google Scholar).

15 Rodenwaldt, ‘Über den Stilwandel in der antoninischen Kunst’ (Abhandl. der Preuss. Akad. der Wiss., Phil.-Hist. Klasse no. 3, 1935), 14 f. Doubtless the whole scene is to be interpreted as a symbol of Concordia. The coins speak for the interpretation of the central figure as Concordia. Wilpert's (Röm. Mitt. li, 1936, 300, n. 6Google Scholar) reference to Nolanus, Paulinus, Carm. xxv, 153 fGoogle Scholar. ‘suis nubentibus adstat Jesus pronubus’ is no objection to this. There, line 9 ff., the pagan triad of Juno, Cupid, Venus, is opposed to the Christian triad of Pax, Pudor, Pietas. There is no reference to ‘pronuba’ Juno. In the Carmina of Claudian both Juno and pronuba are frequently mentioned, but never ‘Juno pronuba’; instead nox pronuba (viii, 642, xxxv, 362 ff.), pronuba flamma (xixiii, 131), natura (xliv, 381).

16 Mattingly, and Sydenham, , The Roman Imperial Coinage, iii, 193, no. 1400Google Scholar.

17 Ibid. 272, no. 732.

18 Gnecchi, , I medaghoni Romani ii, pl. 68, 2Google Scholar; pl. 69, 7. The first representation repeats a bronze medallion of Lucilla, ibid. pl. 76, no. 7.

19 Rodenwaldt o.c. 14.

20 The motive is found, in any case, on a wall-painting in Catania (Mon. dell' Inst. ii, pl. 47, Annali dell' Inst. ix, 177). S. Reinach's assertion (Rep. de peintures, 158, 1). ‘sur la paroi d'une tombe’ depends on a confusion with the grave illustrated in Mon. dell' Inst. ii, pl. 46.

21 Festschrift für James Loeb, 111 ff.