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Fragmentary section of a Roman frieze
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Fragmentary section of a Roman frieze
Early Imperial, contemporary with the Ara Pacis (13-17 BC)
Luna marble
Height: 38cm
Width: 116cm
Thickness: 10cm
Width: 116cm
Thickness: 10cm
Museum number: M46
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 103
On display: Museum Corridor - outside the Picture Room
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
Fragment of a frieze with scrolled acanthus enrichment with a fillet above. The piece, except for breaks at either end, is a self contained unit and perhaps formed part of the interior decoration of what must have been a large building - a basilica or a building from one of the early Imperial fora in Rome. The style and quality of the work matches that of the Ara Pacis in every respect.
Schörner states in his study of Roman foliage that this fragment and Vermeule 152 (M1124) are parts of the same piece and date to the Hadrianic period. Note that he gives the museum number of this piece (Vermeule 203) incorrectly as 1446M, instead of M46. Although his observation appears reasonable the Augustan date - contemporary with the Ara Pacis - seems more convincing.
Schörner states in his study of Roman foliage that this fragment and Vermeule 152 (M1124) are parts of the same piece and date to the Hadrianic period. Note that he gives the museum number of this piece (Vermeule 203) incorrectly as 1446M, instead of M46. Although his observation appears reasonable the Augustan date - contemporary with the Ara Pacis - seems more convincing.
Provenance
Unrecorded.
Literature
Description of Sir John Soane's Museum, 1930, p.41, fig.18 (above the cast of the Castor and Pollux capital).
Günther Schörner, Römische Rankenfriese, Untersuchungen zur Baudekoration der späten Republik und frühen und mittleren Kaiserzeit im Westen des Imperium Romanum, Mainz 1995, p. 156, no. 105 b, pl. 74, 2.
Günther Schörner, Römische Rankenfriese, Untersuchungen zur Baudekoration der späten Republik und frühen und mittleren Kaiserzeit im Westen des Imperium Romanum, Mainz 1995, p. 156, no. 105 b, pl. 74, 2.
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