2012.1.110: Funerary Plaque with Cleaver and Boar

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2012.1.110

Title

Funerary Plaque with Cleaver and Boar

Classification

Inscriptions

Work Type

inscription

Date

4th-5th century

Period

Roman Imperial period, Late

Culture

Roman

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/57665

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Marble

Technique

Carved

Dimensions

21.7 x 21.7 x 3.5 cm (8 9/16 x 8 9/16 x 1 3/8 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: FELICI IN PACE

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Professor Wild, Williams College, Amherst, MA (d. early 1940's), gift; to Professor Wetmore, Williams College, Amherst, MA (?-1960), sold by estate; through [Hesperia Arts, Philadelphia, PA], (1961); to The Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University, (1961-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University

Accession Year

2012

Object Number

2012.1.110

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Marble funerary plaque, inscribed "FELICI IN PACE" (To Felix, in peace), above a depiction of a meat cleaver and a boar, standing in profile to the left. The inscription may have been carved on a reused floor tile.

Commentary

The cleaver and boar indicate that Felix was a pork butcher, and the use of the phrase "in pace" means it is likely he was a Christian.

Publication History

• Mason Hammond, "Three Latin Inscriptions in the McDaniel Collection", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology (1964), Vol. 68/pp. 79-97, 87-90, plate 2a
• John Crawford, Sidney Goldstein, George M. A. Hanfmann, John Kroll, Judith Lerner, Miranda Marvin, Charlotte Moore, and Duane Roller, Objects of Ancient Daily Life. A Catalogue of the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection Belonging to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, ed. Jane Waldbaum, Department of the Classics (unpublished manuscript, 1970), S4, p. 29-30 [G. M. A. Hanfmann]

Exhibition History

• 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/17/2017 - 05/08/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/22/2022 - 05/08/2022; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/28/2023 - 05/07/2023

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