- Identification and Creation
-
- Object Number
- 1943.9
- Title
- Wall painting fragment with lion
- Classification
- Paintings
- Work Type
- painting
- Date
- 1st century CE
- Places
- Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Campania
- Period
- Roman Imperial period, Early
- Culture
- Roman
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/291741
- Physical Descriptions
-
- Medium
- Pigment on plaster
- Technique
- Fresco painting
- Dimensions
- H. 26 x W. 26.7 cm (10 1/4 x 10 1/2 in.)
- Inscriptions and Marks
-
- label: On the top of the wooden frame appears a handwritten, cursive word possibly in chalk. There is also an old Fogg Art Museum label on the back of the frame with the former loan number 137.27.
- Provenance
- Edward W. Forbes, Cambridge, MA, (by 1943) gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.
- Acquisition and Rights
-
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Edward W. Forbes
- Accession Year
- 1943
- Object Number
- 1943.9
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- 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
-
- Description
- This square fragment shows a floating lion on a bright, gold ground. The lion faces right in a 3/4 profile and turns his head to look over the right shoulder. A thin ribbon encircles his neck with the two ends billowing behind his head. Though the white paint used to delineate the animal is partly worn, attention to detail is visible in the carefully highlighted paws.
- 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. Floating decoration, such as animals or human figures, are sometimes shown in the center of large, colored panels and are particularly frequent in paintings from the mid-first century CE.
- Subjects and Contexts
-
Roman Domestic Art
-
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