Sarcophagus decorated with festoons and Nereids carrying Achilles’ weapons; right side decorated with festoon of fruit and a fantastical animal
This fragment was the right side of a sarcophagus numerous other components of which have also survived (Salone XXXV – the mirror image of this one – and Salone, IIL, Room VIII, CCXXVII, CCXXXVII). The lower part of the scene features a garland of fruit and flowers, while the lunette contains a fantastical creature, specifically a griffin with the head of a lion and the tail of a sea serpent, facing left.
This iconographic type is part of a series of sarcophagi decorated with garlands that was produced between the first and fourth centuries CE. The marine procession represented in the lunette was one of the most popular themes in Roman funerary sculpture, in clear reference to the bliss and peace of the afterworld.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
Classification
Medium
white marble with blue veining
Dimensions
height 52 cm, width 60 cm
Provenance
Collezione Borghese (before 1671)?; Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese, 1833 C., p. 43 no. 27. Purchased by the Italian State, 1902.
Conservation and Diagnostic
Commentary
This sarcophagus fragment, which is resting on a non-ancient base, is decorated with a large garland hung from the sides from two cuff-like elements followed by grape leaves bookending a string of fruit, leaves and flowers. The lunette hosts a fantastical creature, specifically a griffin with the head of a lion and the tail of a sea serpent, facing left.
The fragment was the short right side of a sarcophagus, the left side of which, with a mirror image of the same motifs, is displayed in the Salone (XXXV) as a base, while three parts of the front – depicting the Homeric theme of Nereids carrying Achilles’ weapons – are on view in the Salone (IIL) and Room VIII (CCXXXVII; CCXXVII), where they are also resting on non-ancient bases.
This type belongs to a long series of sarcophagi decorated with garlands, specifically festoons in relief, that was very popular from the late Trajanic-early Hadrian age to the late fourth century (see, most recently, Herdejürgen 1996). In Roman art, this iconographic theme is found on sarcophagi produced for urban clients and decorated with Erotes holding garlands that frame marine subjects. The theme of the marine thiasos in a lunette was one of the most popular in Roman funerary sculpture, for its clear reference to the bliss and peace of the afterworld (Engelmann 1973, pp. 60–65; Guj 2010; Parodo 2018).
The Borghese sarcophagus can be dated to the Hadrianic or early Antonine period based on technique and stylistic analysis.
Jessica Clementi
Bibliography
- A. Nibby, Monumenti scelti della Villa Borghese, Roma 1832, p. 42.
- A. Rumpf, Die Meerwesen auf den antiken Sarkophagreliefs, Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs V, 1, Berlin 1939, p. 1, figg. 1-2, tav. 1.
- R. Calza, Catalogo del Gabinetto fotografico Nazionale, Galleria Borghese, Collezione degli oggetti antichi, Roma 1957, p. 17, n. 181.
- J. Engemann, Untersuchungen zur Sepulkralsymbolik der späteren römischen Kaiserzeit, Münster 1973, pp. 60-65.
- P. Moreno, Museo e Galleria Borghese, La collezione archeologica, Roma 1980, p. 9.
- P. Moreno, S. Staccioli, Le collezioni della Galleria Borghese, Milano 1981, p. 102.
- G. Koch, H. Sichtermann, Römische Sarkophage, Munchen 1982, pp. 229, 233 n. 62.
- H. Herdejürgen, Stadtrömische und italische Girlandensarkophage, 1. Die Sarkophage des 1 . und 2. Jahrhunderts. Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs, VI, 2, 1, Berlin 1996, p. 122, n. 70, tav. 37, 1-2; 40, 1; 43, 1-2.
- H. Herdejürgen, Antike und moderne Reliefs in der Villa Borghese, in “Archäologischen Anzeiger”, 4, 1997, pp. 480-503, in part. p. 491.
- P. Moreno, C. Stefani, Galleria Borghese, Milano 2000, p. 48, n.6b.
- P. Moreno, A. Viacava, I marmi antichi della Galleria Borghese. La collezione archeologica di Camillo e Francesco Borghese, Roma 2003, p. 113, n. 75.
- M. Guj, Sarcofago con thiasos marino, in Palazzo Colonna. Appartamenti. Sculture antiche e dall’antico, a cura di M. G. Picozzi, Roma 2010, pp. 231-234, n. 40.
- C. Parodo, La morte per acqua. Iconografia di un thiasos marino su un frammento di sarcofago inedito del Museo Civico “Giovanni Marongiu”, Cabras (OR), in “Layers” 3, 2018, pp. 1-20.
- Scheda di catalogo 12/01008336, P. Moreno 1976; aggiornamento G. Ciccarello 2021
