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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1969.177.1
Title
Cinerarium (ash urn) of Marcus Ulpius Clemens
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
98-117 CE
Period
Roman Imperial period, Middle
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/288636

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Marble from Greek mainland (Hymettan?)
Technique
Carved
Dimensions
17.5 cm h x 34.5 cm w x 29.9 cm d
(6 7/8 in. h x 13 9/16 in. w x 11 3/4 in. d)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: in Latin in five lines,



    D . M . /



    M . U L P I O A U G. L I B /



    C L E M E N T I U L P I A . M . F /



    C L E M E N T I N A . F I L /



    P A T R I P I I S S I M O F E C

    [Transliteration: D(is) M(anibus). M(arco) Ulpio Aug(usti) lib(erto) Clementi Ulpia M(arci) f(ili). Clementina fil(ia) patri piisimo fec(it).]

    [Translation: "To the Spirits of the Dead, for Marcus Ulpius Clemens, freedman of the emperor. His daughter, Ulpia Clementina, daughter of Marcus, made (this monument) for (her) most pious father." Note: The emperor in question is Trajan.]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Harry J. Denberg, New York, NY (by 1969), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1969.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Harry J. Denberg
Accession Year
1969
Object Number
1969.177.1
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description


Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990
Heads of Zeus Ammon appear on each front corner. A garland with fillets runs from one head to the other, beneath the inscription plaque. Horned lion-griffins with ram's heads between their forepaws are seated on each side. The urn is dated from the inscription, which speaks of a freedman of the Emperor Trajan (ruled AD 98-117).



The lid is missing but the urn is otherwise complete. There is some surface incrustation and chipping. Drillmarks are visible. The bottom of the urn is missing.


Heads of Zeus Ammon were popular enrichments on such urns because the garlands could be tied to their horns. They had been symbols of Roman Imperial majesty ever since their appearance in the centers of wall and ceiling panels of the Forum of Augustus in Rome, finished about 2 BC. The cineraria of Trajan's freed families prove that such designs persisted in the decorative repertories available to the ordinary peoples of the capital as late as the beginning of the Antonine age (AD 138).



A companion cinerarium has long been in the collection of Dr. J. Disney of Cambridge University, in the Fitzwilliam Museum. This latter cinerarium was also inscribed for a freedman of Trajan, Marcus Ulpius Fortunatus, set up by his father, Philetus, and his widow Ulpia Plusias. There are also Ammon heads prominent in the enrichment.



Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer

Publication History

  • Adolf Theodor Friedrich Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 1882), p. 515, no. 45
  • Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum VI (1902), Pars 4, Fasc. 1, p. 2830, no. 29157.
  • Sotheby Sale, auct. cat. (London, England, 1946), 29 July, p.16, lot 160
  • Cornelius C. Vermeule III, Notes on a New Edition of Michaelis: Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, American Journal of Archaeology (1955), Vol. 59, No. 2, 129-150, p. 142
  • Cornelius C. Vermeule III and Dr. Dietrich von Bothmer, Notes on a New Edition of Michaelis: Ancient Marbles in Great Britain Part Two, American Journal of Archaeology (1956), Vol. 60, No. 4, 321-350, p. 336
  • Sotheby Sale, auct. cat. (London, England, 1966), 13 June, p. 76, no. 173.
  • Guntram Koch and Helmut Sichtermann, Römische Sarkophage, C. H. Beck (Munich, 1982), p. 51, pl.44
  • Friederike Sinn, Stadtrömische Marmorurnen, Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz am Rhein, 1987), pp. 219-220 no. 529, Taf. 79ef
  • 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. 128, no. 117
  • John Bodel and Stephen Tracy, Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the USA: A checklist, American Academy in Rome (New York, 1997), p. 52.

Related Works

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