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A Roman funerary urn (cinerarium) with dolphins at the corners supporting garlands and a separate lid.
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A Roman funerary urn (cinerarium) with dolphins at the corners supporting garlands and a separate lid.
Pentelic marble
Height: 34.5cm
Height (body): 18.5cm
Height (lid): 10cm
Width (lid): 30.5cm
Length (lid): 24cm
Height (body): 18.5cm
Height (lid): 10cm
Width (lid): 30.5cm
Length (lid): 24cm
Inscription: D. M / P OCTANI / ACMAEI
D[is] M[anibus] P[ublio] Octani Acmaei
Inscription marks: Line 1: 13mm; Lines 2-3: 12mm.
Inscription note: Solin dates this inscription to the second century A.D.
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 Octans Acmaeus.
D[is] M[anibus] P[ublio] Octani Acmaei
Inscription marks: Line 1: 13mm; Lines 2-3: 12mm.
Inscription note: Solin dates this inscription to the second century A.D.
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 Octans Acmaeus.
Museum number: M406
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 337
On display: Catacombs
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit
Curatorial note
On the front of this urn, between plain fillet mouldings, is a waterleaf-framed name plate. At the front corners are two reversed dolphins1 supporting a garland below and between them. The sides of the urn are carved with stylised palmettes. The lid has a filleted wreath within a curved pediment between front corner antefixae.
Inscribed: D M
(OCTANI (POCTANI)
ACMAEL (ACMAEI)
1 On urns decorated with dolphins, see Vermeule 329 and Vermeule 336 with further references.
Inscribed: D M
(OCTANI (POCTANI)
ACMAEL (ACMAEI)
1 On urns decorated with dolphins, see Vermeule 329 and Vermeule 336 with further references.
Provenance
Said by Vermeule to have been purchased by Soane at Lord Mendip's Sale, 18 May 802, Lot 35, A cinerary Urn and Cover, ornamented with Dolphins, funeral Wreath and Inscription' £6.6.0; however, the Bodleian Library copy of the sale catalogue has this lot marked down to a different buyer, 'Sir B... Proc...' [not an agent for Soane].
Literature
Description of Sir John Soane's Museum, 1930, p.68, fig.37.
J. Summerson, Sir John Soane, London, 1952, ill. on title page
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), VI, 23229
H. Solin, Die Griechischen Personennamen im Rom. Ein Namenbuch, 2003, p. 720
J. Summerson, Sir John Soane, London, 1952, ill. on title page
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), VI, 23229
H. Solin, Die Griechischen Personennamen im Rom. Ein Namenbuch, 2003, p. 720
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