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Description
- 10
- Sarcophagus fragment: calf of the leg of Winter, small dead boar, tree stump.
- 3rd c., 250s-early 270s AD
- Densely grained white marble with no streaking that retains its high, `soapy' surface polish, probably Italian (Luna/ Carrara quarries).
- Ht. of calf of Winter’s leg 20 cm, diam. max. at calf, 6.1 cm, diam. max. at knee 6.8 cm, diam. max. of lower shin/ upper ankle, 5.6 cm of l. of boar’s head and neck, 1.77 cm; l. crown to snout, 5.3 cm; w. of snout, 1.6 cm; l. of locks of hair, ca 9 mm Tree branch spur, l. 4.2 cm; w. 3. 3.5 cm; w. of facet, max.2.1 cm.
- Ht. of calf of Winter’s leg 20 cm, diam. max. at calf, 6.1 cm, diam. max. at knee 6.8 cm, diam. max. of lower shin/ upper ankle, 5.6 cm of l. of boar’s head and neck, 1.77 cm; l. crown to snout, 5.3 cm; w. of snout, 1.6 cm; l. of locks of hair, ca 9 mm Tree branch spur, l. 4.2 cm; w. 3. 3.5 cm; w. of facet, max.2.1 cm.
- Preserved are the shin and calf of a human leg, the head of a boar and two stems of the branch of a plant. Surface very well preserved, retaining much of the original polish.
- The figure portrayed is the personification of Winter, and would have stood on the far left of the front facade of a distinctive type pf Season sarcophagus. This sarcophagus type was invented at Rome; of the nearly 600 extant examples only a handful were made in the provinces. Ours was likely made at a metropolitan atelier, probably of Italian marble, and imported to the villa. Although the personified Seasons are often accompanied by appropriate animals on sarcophagi of this type, the very diminutive scale of the boar here is quite unusual. It is comparable to the animal companions on a much-discussed pair of elaborate Seasons sarcophagi, in which Dionysus rides a panther at the centerm one of which is in Kassel and the other, known as the Badminton Sarcophagus, in New York at the Metropolitan Museum. The style and carving of our fragment is so close to that of the New York sarcophagus (which is 86.4 cm high and 215.9 cm long) as to suggest the same workshop, and also to allow a reconstruction of the full composition of the Villa Magna sarcophagus. The New York piece is usually dated to the 260s or early 270s, and the Kassel piece to the 250s or early 260s, hence the date range for the VM fragment proposed here. The VM sarcophagus, deposited in post-antique fills at the winery, suggests the presence at the villa of a rich, elite tomb, now lost; it is also possible that that tomb was located outside the estate, since the fragment comes from modern fills.
- Badminton Sarcophagus, Metropolitan Museum of Art, LIMC II sv Dionysus-Bacchus cat. 117, Matz 1958; Badminton and Kassel sarcophagi, Bartmann 1993 passim (fig. 8, Kassel); McCann 1978, cat. 17 94-103 Badminton and fig. 117, Kassel); Kranz 1984 cat. 130 and 219-20 (Kassel), cat. 131 and 220-21 (Badminton), as type at 139-41. Badminton Sarcophagus online: ‘Triumph of Dionysos and the Seasons sarcophagus [Roman] (55.11.5).’ In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/55.11.5 and http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/130015320 .