Roman Sculpture: Muse Sarcophagus Relief Fragment

Inv. No.: 88.078
Provenance: Rome (house wall on Via delle Colonette; ex Studio Canova)
Date: early 4th century AD
Height: 614mm
Width: 541mm
 
A fragment of a large muse sarcophagus with standing relief figures of two of the nine muses, identifiable because of their attributes as Thalia (muse of comedy) on the left and Euterpe (muse of music) on the right. Between the two goddesses is a comedic theatrical mask sitting on a corbel while Thalia holds a fragment of her characteristic shepherd staff. Euterpe has a fragmentary flute in her right hand. She usually holds the tibiae or pipes separately, one in each hand, but the left flute is missing along with the left hand. Above them is a ledge with a square profile and behind them is a theatrical curtain (parapetasma). On the left-hand side, the piece is broken along the edge of Thalia body. The break to the right juts out and includes Euterpe left arm while the break along the bottom occurs just below the calves of the two figures. The marble is coarse-grained with blue-grey seams. All of the surface of this large fragment shows wear and abrasion probably resulting from exposure to weather during the time it formed part of the wall of a house in Rome.

Function:
Beginning in the second century AD, carved stone sarcophagi were used by wealthy Romans for burying their dead. They were displayed in tombs, either against a wall if one side was uncarved, or free-standing when decorated on all sides. Very large or elaborate examples could be placed out-of-doors along the sides of roads or in cemeteries. Muses were frequently used to decorate sarcophagi, perhaps because practice of the arts was one means of achieving immortality.

Manufacture:
Some sarcophagi were hollowed out and roughly carved in the quarry before being exported and finished in detail in Rome or other cities of the Empire. Others were completely finished near where they were quarried before export. Punch or point and hammer were used for the preliminary shaping while flat and claw chisels were used for finer detail. In this example, extensive drill work is evident in the carving of the hair, the mask and the deep channels in the folds of the garments and the curtain.

Decoration:
The bodies of both muses are frontal. Thalia head is turned to her left. She has very round cheeks and her features are very worn and abraded. She wears a characteristic close-fitting knitted or woven garment (indicated by a diamond-shaped net pattern in low relief). A mantle is wrapped around her hips and draped over her left shoulder (LIMC Type D I 2). The mantle is doubled over forming a roll of cloth at hip level, and the lower edge has a border with a carved pattern that is very worn but is perhaps an ovolo pattern. The pattern of folds in the cloth suggests that her right leg is straight while her left leg is slightly bent. Around her neck is a bulla used to hold an amulet. Her hair is tied into a knot at the back and she wears a fillet around her head with a feather above her forehead. In her left hand she holds a fragmentary staff. Her right arm is missing and only part of each leg remains below the bottom of the mantle. The mask has very round, hollow eyes, a snub nose and a large, gaping mouth. Euterpe looks to her right. She resembles Thalia very closely in features, hair and headdress, but her costume and attributes differ. She wears a long sleeved chiton with a high waist band. Her right arm is held akimbo and the flute she holds in her right hand is broken above and below the hand. Her left arm is raised. The hand would probably have held another flute, but it is missing. Also missing are her feet. Her right leg is bent slightly at the knee while her weight is supported on her straight left leg.

Bibliography:
Burn, L., The British Museum Book of Greek and Roman Art, London, British Museum Press, 1991, 193-194.

Kleiner, D. E. E., "Roman funerary art and architecture: observations on the significance of recent studies", Journal of Roman Archaeology, 1 (1988), 115-119.

Koch, G. and H. Sichtermann, Römische Sarkophage, München, Beck, 1982, especially 197-203 and 423.

Koortbojian, M., Myth, Meaning, and Memory on Roman Sarcophagi, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1995, especially 1-18, 114-126.

Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (1994), VII, 1, 1030-1059.

Schöndorf, H. von, "Zum Kostüm der Thaleia auf den Musenarkophagen des 3. Jahrhunders", Archäologischer Anzeiger (1980), 136-139.

Wegner, M., Die Musensarkophage, Berlin, Mann, 1966, No. 189 (p. 74 and Pl. 105 a).

Wilson, L. M., The Clothing of the Ancient Romans, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1938, 131-132 (bullae).

Comparanda:
Comstock, M. B. and C. C. Vermeule, Sculpture in Stone: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1976, No. 254 (similar head).

Koch, G (and K. Wight), Roman Funerary Sculpture: Catalogue of the Collections, Malibu, California, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1988, Nos. 16 and 18.

Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (1994), VII, 2, Musae 114-230, especially 148, 160, 183, 197.

Vermeule, C. C., Greek and Roman Sculpture in America: Masterpieces in Public Collections in the United States and Canada, Malibu, California, The J. Paul Getty Museum and Berkeley, University of California Press, 1981, Fig. 215.

Wegner, M., Die Musensarkophage, Berlin, Mann, 1966, Pl. 66 (No. 68).