Explore Collections
You are here:
CollectionsOnline
/
A Roman funerary urn (cinerarium) with separate lid, its name plate flanked by tripods.
Browse
A Roman funerary urn (cinerarium) with separate lid, its name plate flanked by tripods.
Pentelic marble
Height: 40cm
Height (body): 24cm
Width (lid): 34cm
Length (lid): 26cm
Height (body): 24cm
Width (lid): 34cm
Length (lid): 26cm
Inscription: D. M / M. CINCI / NICEPHORI
D[is] M[anibus] M[arci] Cinci Nicephori
Inscription marks: Lines 1-2: 18mm; Line 3: 15mm.
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 of Marcus Cincius Nicephor.
D[is] M[anibus] M[arci] Cinci Nicephori
Inscription marks: Lines 1-2: 18mm; Line 3: 15mm.
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 of Marcus Cincius Nicephor.
Museum number: M419
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 326
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
The name plate on this urn, framed with an egg and tongue moulding is set between broad fillets enriched with incised wave pattern flanked by tripods at the corners. Beneath the inscription two birds, facing outwards, turn back to peck at foliage in a vase between them. In the pediment of the lid are two dolphins. The lid has mask-antefixae on the corners.
Inscribed: D · M
M · CINCI
NICEPHORI
A member of the family of which the deceased was probably a libertus, Marcus Cincius Felix Iulianus, was Eques under Antoninus Pius1 and Duum Vir at Carthage.
W. Altmann, Dir römischen Grabaltäre der Kaiserzeit, Berlin, 1905, Chapter X, groups urns with the tripod motive after those enriched with torches at the front corners; compare p.120, fig. 97, no.122, in the Lateran Museum, for an arrangement similar to this example.
1 See C.I.L., VIII, no.27420
Inscribed: D · M
M · CINCI
NICEPHORI
A member of the family of which the deceased was probably a libertus, Marcus Cincius Felix Iulianus, was Eques under Antoninus Pius1 and Duum Vir at Carthage.
W. Altmann, Dir römischen Grabaltäre der Kaiserzeit, Berlin, 1905, Chapter X, groups urns with the tripod motive after those enriched with torches at the front corners; compare p.120, fig. 97, no.122, in the Lateran Museum, for an arrangement similar to this example.
1 See C.I.L., VIII, no.27420
Provenance
Rome: "Apud Aegidium Blasium quadratarium COL." (Pl. XIX of Piranesi, De Rom. Mag. Shows a small pilaster fragment as apud Blasium Lapicidam, so he must have been a connection of the former's circle. He is further located (Pl.XVII) as being near S.M. in Consolazione).
Literature
Description of Sir John Soane's Museum (guidebook), 1930, p.68, fig.37.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), VI, ii, 14812. Colucci Picenum 11, 140, ex letteris abbatis Lancellotti.
F. Sinn, Römische. Marmorurnen, No. 157, p. 131., p 270.
H. Solin, Die Griechischen Personennamen im Rom. Ein Namenbuch, 2003, p. 128.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), VI, ii, 14812. Colucci Picenum 11, 140, ex letteris abbatis Lancellotti.
F. Sinn, Römische. Marmorurnen, No. 157, p. 131., p 270.
H. Solin, Die Griechischen Personennamen im Rom. Ein Namenbuch, 2003, p. 128.
Associated items
X95, found inside
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk