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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1995.1130
Title
Wall Painting Fragment with Mask
Classification
Fragments
Work Type
wall painting fragment(s)
Date
1st century BCE-1st century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Roman Imperial period, Early
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/287267

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Pigment on plaster
Technique
Fresco painting
Dimensions
H. 10.5 × W. 6.5 × D. 2.1 cm (4 1/8 × 2 9/16 × 13/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Nelson Goodman, Weston, MA (by 1995), gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1995.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Nelson Goodman
Accession Year
1995
Object Number
1995.1130
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This fragment depicts a mask in the center of a delicate green vine medallion. Careful highlighting in white and light pink render eyes, a nose, and mouth. The delicate green leaves of the vine are dotted with pink and yellow fruit. A very thin brush was used to apply the yellow paint to the black background, likely in one continuous stroke.

Commentary
Brightly colored wall paintings often decorated the interior, and sometimes exterior, of Roman buildings. The fragment shown is just one small part of a much larger decorative scheme that would have covered an entire wall.

The small piece comes from a much larger composition that most likely decorated a wall in the interior of a Roman home. The style of intricate wall painting seen here became popular during the reign of Augustus in the late first century BCE-early first century CE (1). The light and delicate decoration floats on a black background with little to no sense of depth or volume.

Masks are frequent motifs in frescoes of this period where they often appear tucked amongst architectural elements including aediculae or columns (2).

Notes:
1. The Black Room at Boscotrecase Metropolitan Museum of Art, 20.192.10: Carlos A. Picón, 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 399, pp. 342-43, 484, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

2. Compare to similar fragments from the Villa at Fondo Bottaro: RISD 38.058.3; or the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 25.47.




Exhibition History

  • Roman Gallery Installation (long-term), Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/16/1999 - 01/20/2008

Subjects and Contexts

  • Roman Domestic Art

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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