Roman garlanded cinerarium with bukrania (ox skulls) at the front corners and a separate lid
Marble, probably Greek marble
Height: 24cm
Height (body): 17.5cm
Height (lid): 6.5cm
Width (lid): 21cm
Length (lid): 19cm
Inscription: D. M. CLAVDIAE / HEROIDI / TROPḤIME. LIB. B. M. F
D[is] M[anibus] Claudiae Heroidi Trophime lib[erta] b[ene] m[erenti] f[ecit]
Inscription marks: Line 1: lettercutter’s guidelines visible.
Lines 1-2: 12mm; Line 3: 10mm.
Inscription note: Line 3: ligature HI
Solin dates this inscription to the second or third century A.D.
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. Trophime the freedwoman set it up for the well-deserving Claudia Herois.
Museum number: S146
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 328