For a 3D model made by the Virtual Curation Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University, see https://skfb.ly/owuJV
Marble Relief Fragment
AWG0000.01.10
Roman
Roman Imperial, 1st-2nd century CE
Material: Marble
Technique: Carved in high relief, with some evidence of drill work
Weight: 1263g
Dimensions: 8.3 cm max. height, 14 cm max. length, 8.4 cm width/thickness
Condition: Fair - some edges are broken and the relief design is worn
Provenance: Unknown
Source/donor: Probably part of the Richmond College Museum collection
Date of acquisition: Probably before 1932
Other notes: The old inventory number beginning with R (R6014) suggests that it was part of the Richmond College Museum collection. Other R-numbered items with numbers in the 6000s were displayed in the Biology Museum in Maryland Hall beginning in 1932.
Research by: William Hunt, ‘23
Detailed description of form/shape:
The bottom of the fragment is worked smooth, with a lightly incised straight line set in from the front edge (the decorated side) and parallel to it. The front edge is composed of two horizontal bands of relief: a rounded molding below, with a concave band above. The back, right, and left sides are broken.
Detailed description of decoration:
The decoration on the curved molding is a laurel garland design in deep relief. Some spots between the laurel leaves have deeper impressions (round holes) that seem to have been carved with a drill. Above the rounded garland band is a concave band decorated with the bottom of a volute design, with a shell-shaped pattern (palmette) at the right.
Comparanda:
For laurel garlands in deep relief, compare the “garland sarcophagus” type, such as Metropolitan Museum of Art 90.12a,b (130-150 CE) and Metropolitan Museum of Art 70.1 (200-225 CE). See also, sarcophagus from Karaman (Sağlan 2016). Garlands or other vegetal motifs may occur in a horizontal position as rounded moldings at the bottom of sarcophagi (e.g., Koch and Sichtermann figs. 469, 479, and 515, from Athens, Myra, and Istanbul) or other relief monuments, as on votive altars like the Augustan-period Altar of the Vicus Aesculeti, Rome, which has an oak garland decorating the bottom rounded molding (Petersen 2015, figs. 4.7.2-3; Russell 2020, 33, fig. 2.1). For a garland molding at the bottom of an altar topped by a concave molding with volute motifs, compare an altar in the Vatican Museum showing scenes from the founding of Rome and the well-known Belvedere altar, also in the Vatican (Russell 2020, fig. 2.8).
Discussion:
While “garland sarcophagi” show curved garlands hanging on the sides of the sarcophagus, the garland on our relief fragment is horizontal and seems to have formed the bottom molding of a relief panel, perhaps a votive relief, sarcophagus, or altar. Close parallels are found among the altars of the Lares Augusti, where laurel and oak motifs may have evoked Augustan imperial imagery (Russell 2020, 32-33). The palmette at the right suggests a corner. While on most of the sarcophagi and altars noted above the garland molding appears above another layer (a smooth vertical face), the rounded garland on our fragment is the bottom-most element, with a smoothly finished surface underneath, perhaps for placement atop a separate plinth. A garland sarcophagus from Iasos (Caria) offers a parallel for a horizontal garland molding at the very bottom of each side, with a separately worked base assumed (Istanbul Archaeological Museum no. 513, Koch and Sichtermann 1982, 525, fig. 515, early 2nd cent. CE).
The deep round impressions between the laurel leaves were probably made by a drill. Roman sculptors used drills to aid in creating deep channels: first they would drill a series of round holes in a line, and then they would carve the spaces between the holes to connect them (Grossman 2003, 41; Claridge 2015). Often, the round outlines of the shortcut holes are still evident, as they are here.
Bibliography:
Claridge, Amanda. 2015. “Marble Carving Techniques, Workshops, and Artisans.” In The Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture, edited by Elise A. Friedland, Melanie Grunow Sobocinski, and Elaine K. Gazda. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199921829.013.0010.
Grossman, Janet Burnett. 2003. Looking at Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone : a Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.
Koch, Guntram and Hellmut Sichtermann. 1982. Römische Sarkophage. Munich: C.H. Beck.
Petersen, Lauren Hackworth. 2015. “Non-Elite Patronage.” In The Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture, edited by Elise A. Friedland, Melanie Grunow Sobocinski, and Elaine K. Gazda. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199921829.013.0010.
Russell, Amy. 2020. “The Altars of the Lares Augusti.” In The Social Dynamics of Roman Imperial Imagery, edited by Amy Russell and Monica Hellström. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sağlan, Suhal. 2016. “A garland sarcophagus from Karaman.” Anodos. Studies of the Ancient World 12: 243-250. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Front-panel-of-Karaman-Garland-Sarcophagus_fig1_309805409.