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Roman funerary urn (cinerarium) with a name-plate in the form of a maltese cross and a separate lid.
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Roman funerary urn (cinerarium) with a name-plate in the form of a maltese cross and a separate lid.
Luna marble
Height: 25cm
Height (excluding lid): 17.5cm
Width (lid): 30.5cm
Length (lid): 25cm
Height (excluding lid): 17.5cm
Width (lid): 30.5cm
Length (lid): 25cm
Inscription: D M / P. CVRVIO / CRESCENTINO / CONIVGI B. M
D[is] M[anibus] P[ublio] Curvio Crescentino coniugi b[ene] m[erenti]
Inscription marks: Line 1: 18mm; Lines 2-3: 17mm; Line 4: 15-21mm.
Inscription note: [This does not appear to have been published in CIL.]
We are grateful to Dr. Charlotte Tupman, a scholar of epigraphy (the study of inscriptions) undertaking postdoctoral research at King’s College London, who took squeezes of the inscriptions on antiquities in the Museum in 2007, for her transliteration, translation and notes/bibliography of the inscription on this piece.
Inscription translation: To the spirits of the departed. To Publius Curvius Crescentinus, well-deserving husband.
D[is] M[anibus] P[ublio] Curvio Crescentino coniugi b[ene] m[erenti]
Inscription marks: Line 1: 18mm; Lines 2-3: 17mm; Line 4: 15-21mm.
Inscription note: [This does not appear to have been published in CIL.]
We are grateful to Dr. Charlotte Tupman, a scholar of epigraphy (the study of inscriptions) undertaking postdoctoral research at King’s College London, who took squeezes of the inscriptions on antiquities in the Museum in 2007, for her transliteration, translation and notes/bibliography of the inscription on this piece.
Inscription translation: To the spirits of the departed. To Publius Curvius Crescentinus, well-deserving husband.
Museum number: M376
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 327
On display: Catacombs
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
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Curatorial note
The front is in the form of a large Maltese cross name plate of broad fillet moulding and recessed lines within a similar outside moulding; there are recessed panels in the corners. It could be described as rather more a tabula ansata than a Maltese cross: there are several other examples of that, see below. The lid has an undecorated pediment between stylised acanthus(?) antefixae.
Inscribed: D M
P· CVRVIO
CRESCENTINO
CONIVGI B· M
For a similar type of moulding in the shape of a Maltese Cross enframing the inscription area, compare Jones, Cap., p.97, no.18, pl.33, which is here, however, a circular urn. For other urnes with an inscription panel in the form of a tabula ansata covering the whole front, F. Sinn, Römische Marmorurnen, No. 157, p. 131., no. 283, pl. 50 d; No. 303, pl. 53 c; 714, pl. 104 f (letzte allerdings erst 4. Jh. n. Chr.) or round ones No 638, pl. 94 d, no. 651, pl. 95 e, no. 654 pl. 95 f.
Inscribed: D M
P· CVRVIO
CRESCENTINO
CONIVGI B· M
For a similar type of moulding in the shape of a Maltese Cross enframing the inscription area, compare Jones, Cap., p.97, no.18, pl.33, which is here, however, a circular urn. For other urnes with an inscription panel in the form of a tabula ansata covering the whole front, F. Sinn, Römische Marmorurnen, No. 157, p. 131., no. 283, pl. 50 d; No. 303, pl. 53 c; 714, pl. 104 f (letzte allerdings erst 4. Jh. n. Chr.) or round ones No 638, pl. 94 d, no. 651, pl. 95 e, no. 654 pl. 95 f.
Provenance
Unrecorded.
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