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Marble sarcophagus with garlands

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Eros, God of Love

Eros, God of Love
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Marble sarcophagus with garlands

Period:
Severan
Date:
ca. A.D. 200–225
Culture:
Roman
Medium:
Marble, Proconnesian
Dimensions:
Overall: 53 x 88in. (134.6 x 223.5cm)
Classification:
Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:
Gift of Abdo Debbas, 1870
Accession Number:
70.1

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 169

  • Description

    This was the first gift accepted by the Museum.

    The back and cover of this sarcophagus are unfinished, and its inscription tablet is blank, which may imply that it went unsold in antiquity. Garlands of oak leaves supported by two erotes and four Victories adorn the front and sides. Medusa heads fill the spaces above the garlands, except in the center of the front, where there is the blank inscription tablet. Six erotes hunt various wild animals along the front face of the cover, while two others stand at the corners. On the left end, Eros awakens Psyche with an arrow, and on the right, they embrace.

  • Provenance

    Found at Tarsus, Cilicia, near the bridge over the Cydnus River in 1863 (Davis 1879, p. 31).

  • References

    Davis, E.J., Rev. 1879. Life in Asiatic Turkey. A Journal of Travel in Cilicia (Pedias and Trachoea), Isauria, and Parts of Lycaonia and Cappadocia. London: E. Stanford, p. 31.

    Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1901. First Annual Report of the Trustees, 1870-1871. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 10.

    Richter, G.M.A. 1917. Handbook of the Classical Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 258.

    Rodenwaldt, G. 1927. Die Kunst der antike Hellas und Rom. Berlin: Propyläen-verlag, p. 699, pl. 632.

    Rodenwaldt, G. 1933. "Sarcophagi from Xanthos." Journal of Hellenic Studies 53: 200, no. 57, p. 204, n. 73.

    McClees, H. 1933. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 135.

    Rodenwaldt, G. 1938. "Sarkophag-Miscellen." Archäologischer Anzeiger 53: column 398, n. 3, column 413, n. 1.

    Ward-Perkins, J.B. 1958. "Four Roman Garland Sarcophagi in America." Archaeology 11: 102ff, ill.

    McNally, S. 1971. "The Frieze of the Mausoleum at Split." In Studies Presented to George M.A. Hanfman. Cambridge, p. 110, n. 38.

    McCann, Anna Marguerite. 1978. Roman Sarcophagi in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 2, pp. 21, 29-33, figs. 23-24, 26-27.

    Picón, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 468, pp. 398, 497.

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    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
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