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Fragment of the end-support of a Roman bench
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Fragment of the end-support of a Roman bench
69-117 AD
Flavian (69-96 AD) or Trajanic (98-117 AD)
Flavian (69-96 AD) or Trajanic (98-117 AD)
Luna marble
Height: 23cm
Width: 24cm
Thickness: 6cm
Width: 24cm
Thickness: 6cm
Museum number: X7
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 241
Not on display
Curatorial note
This piece is the lower, left-hand outer corner of a support for a bench or low garden table. There is a decorative moulding at the bottom with traces of a rosette at the right; above are the remains of carved enrichment on an offset surface, comprising a tight volute acanthus leaf and a scrolled stalk and foliage, with traces of further stalks leading to higher decoration above.
Judging from the use of drill point, undercutting and shadow in workmanship of good quality, this fragment is probably Flavian or Trajanic - at any rate dating to before the Hadrianic "Villa" period which is so widely represented - particularly by enriched shafts and pilasters - in the Soane collection. For a parallel to this not common shape and detail of enrichment we may compare a similar but unbroken bench or low table support which stood in the second court of the Palazzo Mattei in Rome1 and which is preserved in a beautiful chalk drawing in the Royal Library, Windsor2.
1 F. Matz and F. Duhn, Antiks Bildwerke in Rom, 3 vols, Leipzig, 1881, no.341.
2 Vol. A - 42, A. Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, trans. C.A.M. Fennell, Cambridge, 1882, III, no. 8394.
Judging from the use of drill point, undercutting and shadow in workmanship of good quality, this fragment is probably Flavian or Trajanic - at any rate dating to before the Hadrianic "Villa" period which is so widely represented - particularly by enriched shafts and pilasters - in the Soane collection. For a parallel to this not common shape and detail of enrichment we may compare a similar but unbroken bench or low table support which stood in the second court of the Palazzo Mattei in Rome1 and which is preserved in a beautiful chalk drawing in the Royal Library, Windsor2.
1 F. Matz and F. Duhn, Antiks Bildwerke in Rom, 3 vols, Leipzig, 1881, no.341.
2 Vol. A - 42, A. Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, trans. C.A.M. Fennell, Cambridge, 1882, III, no. 8394.
Provenance
Unrecorded
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