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SM SC6. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Art UK
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Roundel depicting ‘Trajan departing for the chase’, after a Roman relief on the Arch of Constantine

Plaster

Diameter: 70cm
Depth: 7cm

Museum number: SC6

On display: Staircase - basement to ground floor
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

This plaster roundel was probably modelled after a full-size cast from the Roman original. The original marble on the Arch of Constantine (dedicated in 315 AD) is one of a series of 8 roundels reused from an earlier monument of the Hadrianic period. It is one of a pair on the south side and depicts Antinous (Hadrian's favourite) on the left, the Emperor Hadrian (centre), an attendant and a friend of the court (amicus principis) departing for the hunt. Its pair shows them making a sacrifice to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woods.

In this plaster, the head of the Emperor, missing in the original Roman roundel, has been 'restored' by the plasterer who made this version and a modern framing supplied, perhaps to Soane's own specification. Soane thought the subject was the Emperor Trajan (53-117 AD) but it is today identified as his successor, the Emperor Hadrian (76-138 AD).

Associated items

M1424, same subject
M893, same subject
MR29, source


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