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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1932.56.123
Title
Fragment of a Cinerarium
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
c. 100-120 CE
Period
Roman Imperial period, Middle
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/292378

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Marble, probably Hymettan
Dimensions
actual: 11.7 x 31.7 x 15 cm (4 5/8 x 12 1/2 x 5 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Dr. Harris Kennedy, Milton, MA (by 1932), gift; to the William Hayes Fogg Art Museum, 1932.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy, Class of 1894
Accession Year
1932
Object Number
1932.56.123
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990
120

Fragment of a Cinerarium

The double-fillet molding on the front and the two sides survives. The upper surface and the back are broken irregularly. The material is a very low grade marble, probably Hymettan. There is an ancient hole in the lower front, as if the body had been reused as a small fountain. The interior was plastered at the time of this second use. The bottom is cut and finished roughly.

The front is decorated with a looped garland of leaves and buds. At each corner is a sphinx, shown in double-image profile. A late Flavian cinerarium, or a Trajanic monument for a freedperson of the Flavian dynasty, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, shows how the Harvard cinerarium could be completed, with eagles above the sphinxes to hold the ends of the garland as it is draped around the sides and bottom of the inscription plate (Comstock, Vermeule, 1976, p. 148, no. 239).

Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer

Publication History

  • 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. 131, no. 120

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