Landscape relief with still-life scene of temple, lobster, murex shell
1st century A.D.
Medium/TechniqueMarble, Greek island
DimensionsHeight x width: 29.5 x 19.5 cm (11 5/8 x 7 11/16 in.)
Credit LineClassical Department Exchange Fund
Accession number1979.613
On View
Not on viewClassificationsSculpture
Collections
This small rectangular relief carved from white marble presents an unusual assortment of objects arranged in and around an architectural structure, seemingly a ruin. A rare ancient "still life," it attests to the existence in antiquity of an aesthetic approach normally associated with later European art, especially Dutch painting of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.An oversize crayfish hangs in the foreground, providing a strong vertical accent. Beside it is a finely detailed basket containing a pair of astragali, knuckle-bones of sheep or goats used as gaming pieces, and a murex shell seemingly set before a gateway. In the background, behind a dilapidated wall, two plucked birds hang from a long, gnarled tree branch. While no other ancient relief with this exact subject matter is known, it seems to correspond roughly with a class of paintings described by the Roman architectural writer Vitruvius as xenia (guest gifts), which depicted the provisions that Greek hosts provided to visitors, in-cluding foods, games, and writing utensils. Finds of sculpture from Pompeii and its environs may also hint at the function and setting of this unique piece: six reliefs of comparable size were discovered embedded into a wall in the peristyle courtyard of Pompeii's House of the Golden Cupids; similar to this one, the Pompeian panels, decorated with a series of theatrical masks, were carved only on one side and were meant to be seen exclusively from the front.
ProvenanceBy 1972, said to have belonged to Kenneth John Hewett (dealer, b. 1919 - d. 1994), London [see note]. By 1978, sold by an unknown dealer to Peter Sharrer, New York; 1979, sold by Peter Sharrer to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 19, 1979)
NOTE: According to Peter Sharrer, he first saw this relief in 1972 with Hewett, who had it for number of years prior.
NOTE: According to Peter Sharrer, he first saw this relief in 1972 with Hewett, who had it for number of years prior.
530–515 B.C.
5th century
about A.D. 200
about A.D. 120
about 2nd century A.D. (after a Hellenistic Greek type)
second half of 2nd century A.D.
about 70–60 B.C.
150–100 B.C.
100 B.C.–100 A.D.
about 100 B.C.
A.D. 120–140