Cinerarium
sculptor
Unknown
Dateabout 100
Place MadeAncient & Byzantine World-Europe
MediumPentelic marble
Dimensions78 x 62.5 x 47.5 cm (30 11/16 x 24 5/8 x 18 11/16 in.)
ClassificationsFunerary Containers
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberS27e39
eMuseum ID727952
EmbARK ObjectID12508
TMS Source ID1614
Last Updated10/31/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryMany sarcophagi and cinerary urns decorate the Gardner Museum. In this well-preserved example, two rams’ heads anchor a garland. Below the inscription Cupid approaches the sleeping Psyche, a subject which suggests that dead souls could be reawakened through love. This cinerarium was found near S. Paolo fuori le mura in Rome. Other grave markers found nearby indicate that the deceased was from a family of freed Greek slaves from Asia Minor.
Source: Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 15.
Source: Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 15.
BibliographyNotesCorpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 6, no. 34833.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 248. (Roman)
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 9, no. 33 (17 Apr. 1966), p. 2. (Roman, 1st-2nd century CE)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 40-41, no. 55. (Roman, 1st-2nd century CE)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III. "Classical Art" in James Thomas Herbert Baily (ed.). The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors 128 "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum" (London, 1978), p. 45, no. 4.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 15. (Roman, about 100 [CE])
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 248. (Roman)
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 9, no. 33 (17 Apr. 1966), p. 2. (Roman, 1st-2nd century CE)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 40-41, no. 55. (Roman, 1st-2nd century CE)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III. "Classical Art" in James Thomas Herbert Baily (ed.). The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors 128 "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum" (London, 1978), p. 45, no. 4.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 15. (Roman, about 100 [CE])
MarksNotesInscribed (central tablet): DIS*MANIBVS / P*CIARTI*LASI / P*CIARTIVS / ALEXANDER / FRATRICARISSIMO (To the Gods and Shades / To Publius Ciartius Lasus / Publius Ciartius / Alexander / To his dearest brother)
ProvenanceNotesMade for Publius Ciartius Lasus who was from a family of Greek freedmen from either Thrace or Asia Minor Propontis. Commissoined by his brother Publius Ciartius Alexander.
Discovered in 1897 on the Via Ostiense with six other funerary monuments (CIL nos. 34831-37) in a family burial complex behind the church of San Paulo fuori le Mura, Rome near its bell tower.
Before its purchase, from about 1897 to 1901, it was in the possession of the antiquarians and art dealers Antonio and Alessandro Jandolo.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner with a second cinerarium (museum no. S27e29) probably for 14,500 lire from an unknown dealer in Rome, perhaps Antonio and Alessandro Jandalo, on 25 October 1901, through the art historian and archaeologist Richard Norton (1872-1918).
Discovered in 1897 on the Via Ostiense with six other funerary monuments (CIL nos. 34831-37) in a family burial complex behind the church of San Paulo fuori le Mura, Rome near its bell tower.
Before its purchase, from about 1897 to 1901, it was in the possession of the antiquarians and art dealers Antonio and Alessandro Jandolo.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner with a second cinerarium (museum no. S27e29) probably for 14,500 lire from an unknown dealer in Rome, perhaps Antonio and Alessandro Jandalo, on 25 October 1901, through the art historian and archaeologist Richard Norton (1872-1918).
