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A Roman antefix
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A Roman antefix
1st century AD
1st century of the Roman Empire, as per M558.
1st century of the Roman Empire, as per M558.
Marble, probably Pentelic marble
Height: 34cm
Width (base): 25cm, maximum
Thickness: 5cm
Width (base): 25cm, maximum
Thickness: 5cm
Museum number: S19
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 121
On display: Study
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 antefix is enriched as M558 (Vermeule cat. 120), to which it is very close in style and minor detail as opposed to Soane no. M915 (Vermeule 119). The slight differences in dimension among pieces of this sort do not preclude their coming from the same building - from different parts, and even from the same roof, for the decorative function of their carved surfaces did not necessitate the dimensional accuracy found in more structural architectural enrichment.
Provenance
As previous Vermeule 119 and 120; Rome; collected by Charles Heathcote Tatham for the architect Henry Holland during the 1790s. See Cornelius Vermeule, unpublished catalogue of the Antiquities at Sir John Soane's Museum, Introduction, transcription of Tatham letters, list 2, nos. 59-63.
Literature
Tatham: Etchings, 14.
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