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Description
- 55
- Animal or animal pelt, fragment
- late 2nd -4th c. AD
- Densely grained white marble (Italian) with no streaking, polished to a 'soapy' surface.
- L. 2.7 cm, w. 2.3 cm, th.1.2 cm.
- Broken on four sides, flaked away behind. The surface is still smooth, though the original polish is not well-preserved.
- This is a tiny fragment of a seemingly miniaturist treatment of animal fur. The stiff, dense fur is rendered in very short curling tufts defined by deep incision.
- The lock of animal hair must come either from a quite under-life-sized completely furred animal (like a bear), or from a somewhat under-life-sized animal with furred joints, mane or body (boar, lion, feline, even a goat-legged Pan or satyr); a last option is the furring of an animal pelt worn by a Dionysian or other mythological being. The technique suggests the 2nd-3rd c.. The workmanship is similar to that of the mane of the little boar on the Seasons sarcophagus S 5, datable to the middle decades of the 3rd c.