A Roman funerary urn (cinerarium) with fluted Tuscan pilasters at the corners and a central name plate framed with double mouldng strips. At the corners of the lid are antefixae decorated with inset rosettes and there is a similar rosette flanked by stylised foliage within the triangular pediment.
Luna marble
Height: 29cm
Height (excluding lid): 21.5cm
Width (lid): 33cm
Length (lid): 23cm
Height (excluding lid): 21.5cm
Width (lid): 33cm
Length (lid): 23cm
Inscription: D. M / L VARRO / NIO. SATV / RNINO
D[is] M[anibus] L[ucio] Varronio Saturnino
Inscription marks: Line 1: lettercutter’s guidelines visible at base; Lines 2-4: guidelines visible above and below.
Letter heights: Line 1: 18mm; Lines 2-3: 19mm; Line 4: 18mm.
Inscription note:
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. To Lucius Varronius Saturninus.
D[is] M[anibus] L[ucio] Varronio Saturnino
Inscription marks: Line 1: lettercutter’s guidelines visible at base; Lines 2-4: guidelines visible above and below.
Letter heights: Line 1: 18mm; Lines 2-3: 19mm; Line 4: 18mm.
Inscription note:
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. To Lucius Varronius Saturninus.
Museum number: S140
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 320
On display: Study
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