Toynbee_A Roman Sarcophagus at Pawlowsk and Its Fellows

8/10/2019 Toynbee_A Roman Sarcophagus at Pawlowsk and Its Fellows

1/18

A Roman Sarcophagus at Pawlowsk and Its Fellows

Author(s): Jocelyn ToynbeeSource: The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 17 (1927), pp. 14-27Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/296096.

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2/18

A ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS AT PAWLOWSK AND ITS FELLOWS.'

By JOCELYN TOYNBEE.

(Plates

-Iii)

In the collection

of ancient

sculpture

t Pawlowsk,near

Lenin-

grad,

there is a Roman

sarcophagus

whichhas never been

published

(plate

i, a-c), though

long

known o students

f

ancient sarcophagi.

A certainamount

of information

s to

its history s supplied

to us

from

he following ources.

Stephani

appendsto

his description f

the sarcophagusn Die Antiken-Sammlungu Pawlowsk,

872,

p.

24,

no.

42,

a short

notice of its

previous

career.

'

Der Sarkophag st in

Rom

im Mausoleum

des Augustus,

worin bekanntlichnahere

und

fernere

Verwandte

der kaiserlichenFamilie

bis gegen

die

Zeit

Hadrians beigesetzt

wurden Becker,Handb.

der rom.Alterth.

h.

I,

s.

639),

gefunden

und

gelangte

zunrichst

n die

Sammlung Lyde

Brown-Cat.

L.

Br.

I779,

sarcofaghi,

o.

I,

un

bellissimo e

ben

conservatosarcofago,

argo quattro

piedi

e mezzo, ornato con sei

maschere

di Fauni

e

Satiri

e con festonie

putti

di

ottimo

gusto;

fu trovato

nel

Mausoleo

d'Augusto.

On the

negative

ide we can

tracethe history fthe sarcophagus till further. In the first lace

we

knowthat

it was

not

incorporated

n the

Lyde

Brown collection

before

768,

as there

sno mention

f t in the

catalogue

compiled

n

that year. Secondly,

lthough

the

Soderini

acquiredpossession

of

the

Mausoleum

n

I546,3

and

had

alreadyby I567

formed

collection

of

ancient

sculpture,

not

only

from

the

Mausoleum,

but

from

the

neighbourhood

f Rome

as

well,

they

were

not

yet

in

possession

f

the

sarcophagus

when Aldroandidrew

up a list

of theiracquisitions

in

I588.4

The latter fact would

seemto cast

a

serious

doubt

upon

the

definite

tatement

s

to

provenance

n

the

Lyde

Brown

catalogue,

and one is temptedto wonder whether he ownersof the Soderini

collection

were

not

drawing

the

long

bow

when,

on

selling

the

sarcophagus

o

Lyde

Brownat somedate between

I768

and

I779,5

'This

paper

owes its

origin

to

the kindness

of

Professor

odenwaldt

of

Berlin,

who

photographed

the sarcophagus

while

on

a visit

to

Russia

in the

summer

of

1926

and

has

allowed

me

to

publish

his

photographs

n this

Yournal.

The

need

for

nvesti-

gating

the

date

of

this

sarcophagus

n

particular

was

first mpressed

upon

me

in the

course

of

a

conversation

with

Mrs. Strong,

who

suggested

that tsreputedprovenance ight

have

an

important

bearing

upon

its

date

and

hence upon

the chron-

ology

of

sarcophagi

n general.

2

The following

references

were

kindly

sent

to

me

by

Mr. I.

A. Richmond.

They

all appear

in

his article

on

the Mausoleum

of

Augustus in

Papers

os

the BritishSchool t

Rome,vol.

x.

I

in-

clude them here

for

the

sake

of

completeness.

a

B.C.,

I895,

pp-

306-7-

4Aldroandi,

Statue di

Roma,

I588, pp. I98-201

Storia

degli Scavi,

iii,

p.

24I

and

Album

de Pierre

Yaques,

1575,

p.

57;

Storia

degliScavi, ii, p.

I5.

5

In

1780

the Soderini

gardens

were

replaced by

a bull ring Diario di Roma, July3,

1780,

no. 570)

and the sale

of

the

collection

must,

therefore,

have

been

going

on

during

the

years preceding

this date.

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3/18

A

ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS AT PAWLOWSK AND ITS FELLOWS.

I5

they nformed

im that his

purchase

had been' trovato

nelMausoleo

d'Augusto.' In the Codex PighianusBerolinensis f i6i8 (Lat. fol.

6i,

p.

341)

there s

a drawing f the front

f a sarcophagus,

hich

s

labelled inMausoleo

Augusti (plate

i) and

tallieswith

the descrip-

tion quoted

above fromhe

Lyde Brown atalogue.

It is, as we

shall

see, obviously

a reproduction

f the Pawlowsk

sarcophagus,

nd

the

legend

shows

that the latter

had been acquired

by the

Soderini

and

was on view

in the Mausoleum

by

the

beginning

f the seventeenth

century. The sarcophagus

presumably

went to Russia

with the

rest

of

the

Lyde

Browncollection

about the year I787

(Stephani,

o.p.

cit., p. 2).

Turning to the sarcophagus tself,we notice at once that it is

remarkablyong

and narrow

9 43

m.

long

by I77

m.

high).

It rests

on

a

low plinth,

decorated

along

the front nd

short ideswith

an

elaboratekymation.

The plinth

was made

separately

rom he rest,

a

very

unusual feature,

but Professor

Rodenrwaldt

ells me that

in

his

opinionthere can

be

no

doubt

as to its being

antique

and having

originally

elonged

to the

sarcophagus.

The front

s decorated

with

four naked

Amorini supporting

on their

shoulders three heavy

garlands

f

fruit

nd

flowers.

The bodies

of

the two Amorini

n

the

corners

re

frontal,

ut their

faces are turned

outwards,

way

from

the centreofthedesign. In each theweight s thrown n the outer

leg,

the

outer arm

is raised

parallel

with the

face and bent back

at

-the

lbow along

one of

the

short

ides

of

the

sarcophagus,

while

the

inner

arm

is hidden behind the

garland.

The two Amorini

who

separate

the

central

garland

from

hose

on either

side face inwards

towards

the

centre, with

their

weight

thrown

on the inner

leg.

The

Amorino on

the left is

looking upwards,

with his

right

arm

raised

in

front

of

him

and

his

left

hidden;

the one

on

the

right

s

glancing

ownwards,

is

right

rm s concealed

and his

eftraised nd

bent

back at

the elbow

behindhis

head.

AllfourAmorini

re

winged,

one wingofeachbeingvisible, heother oncealed. In thecaseofthe

Amorini

t the

sidesthe

outer

wing

of each

appears

round the

corner

on each

of

the

short ides

(plate

i, b, c);

of the centralAmorinithe

rightwing

of the left-hand

ne

and the left

wing

of

the

right-hand

one is spread

out

behind

him.

In

the

semicircular

pace

above each

garland

are two

masks

facing

one

another,

each

pair resting

on a

ledge

covered with

the

skin

of

a beast.

The

masks

of the

left-hand

pair

are

those

of

a

bearded

Silenus

on the

left and

a beardless

Satyr

on

the right

with

a

pedum

between

them;

two

bearded Sileni

form

the central pair, and the right-handpair consistsof a beardless

Satyr

on

the left and

a

Maenad

on the

right.

The

spaces

eft n

the

corners

above

and below

the

garlands

are

filled

by

the

fluttering

1

I

have to thank

Mrs.

Strong

for

her

kindness

in procuring

nd

handing

over to me the

photo-

graph

of this

drawing,

nd the authorities

f the

Staatsbibliothek

at Berlin

for

allowing

me

to

publish

t here.



4/18

x6

A

ROMAN

SARCOPHAGUS

AT PAWLOWSK

AND ITS FELLOWS.

endsof taeniae,

arts f which

tand ut

almost ree rom

he back-

ground.The eyes f hemasks,ut notof heAmorini,rerendered

plastically.

The face

and wingof the

left-hand morino

n the

centre, he noses

fthemasks,

ith heexception

fthe

first nthe

left,

nd parts

f thetaeniael

are restoredn

plaster. Each of

the

short

ides s decorated

ith massive arland

foak eaves

uspended

from heshoulder f

the cornerAmorino

n the

one side and

the

tail

of

a dolphin

tanding n

its head

on the other. Taeniae

are

arrangedn patterns

o fill he

spaces boveand

below he garlands,

and t is the arrangement

f hesepatterns

hich lone

distinguishes

the

one sidefrom

heother. The

style f he hort

ides

s compared

with he fronts rougherndmore ummary. he back s, as usual,

left

undecorated.

With thephotograph

ftheoriginal

efore s we

can now

test

the

accuracy

fboth heLyde

Brown atalogue

nd Codex

Pighianus

drawing.

The

LydeBrown atalogue

oes not

tell us verymuch,

but the account

theregiven

is, as far as it

goes,

an accurate

description f

the sarcophagus

t Pawlowsk.

The sarcophagus

s

remarkably

ben conservato,'

nd the statement

f the principal

features

f

the maindesign, he

six masks, arlands

nd

Amorini,

s

perfectly

ccurate. But the

more nteresting

omparison

s that of

the Codex Pighianus rawingfthefrontplate

I)

withthephoto-

graph

f the

sarcophagus.At

first ight ne is

impressed ith

the

high

standard

f

accuracydisplayed

y

the

draughtsman.

The

respectivettitudes

f

the fourAmorini,

he distinctive

eatures

f

the

six

masks,

ncludinghe pedum

etween hose

of the

left-hand

pair,

and

the

animal skinsbeneath

the

masks

re all faithfully

reproduced.

In the garlands

he close

correspondence

etween

drawing

nd

photograph

s even more triking.

Apart

from

few

obvious

iscrepanciesuch s

theflower hich

ppears

n

the

drawing

in the centre fthe right-handarland, ut ofwhichthere s no

trace n

the

original,

nd the

fact hat n

thedrawing

here

re three

flowers

n the middle

of

the central

arland

but

only

two

in

the

original,

t is

possible

o trace

almost

very

detail of the

original

garlands,

eaf

by

eaf

and flower

y flower,

n the Codex

Pighianus

version.

There

are,

of

course,

ertain

oints

n which he

draughts-

man

has

departed

rom

is

model,

nd

for

he

chief

fthese he

fact

that

his

proportions

re

wrong

s

responsible.

His

sarcophagus

s

considerably

eeper

n

proportion

o its

ength

han

he

sarcophagus

itself.

As a result-he

has

not

only

ntroduced

mpty

paces,

ot

found n the original, etween he uppermargin nd the masks,

between

he

edges

nd

the

garlands

nd

between

he

garlands

nd

the

lower

margin,

ut

he has

also been

obliged

to increase

he

'i.e. the first from eft to right) and second of the upper taeniae, and

the

first, hird, ourth,

ifth

and sixth

of the lowertaeniae.



5/18

A ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS AT PAWLOWSK AND ITS FELLOWS.

1

7

stature of his Amorini,who have thus lost something f

the

chubbiness nd roundness f theiroriginals. In addition o this,

also,he hasnotbeenvery uccessfuln the faces ither f masks r

of

Amorini. He has failed, n thewhole, o reproduce

he

baby

harm

of the atter nd to catch he note

of

sprightlinessnd good

humour

in

the

grotesque

eatures f the former.The mask f the

Maenad

on

the

extreme

ight

s

a

particularly

nsuccessful

ffort. The

taeniae

nds eenon

the sarcophagus

tself

etween

he

garland

nd

free

oot f each of the

central

morini o

not

appear

n the

draw-

ing.

But

in

comparison

ith he

very

aithful

endering

hich

he

drawing ives

of the

design

s a

whole

these

points

f difference

are ofminor mportance,nd therecan be no doubtwhatsoever

that the Codex Pighianus rawingwas done from

he

Pawlowsk

sarcophagus.

The conclusionhusreached rom hestudy fthe design n the

front

s

not affected

y

a further

trikingiscrepancy etween he

drawing

nd the

original.

In

the

former,

hile here

s

no

trace f

the

plinth

nd

kymation,

he

sarcophagus

s

topped by

a

decorated

lid. If the

plinth riginallyelonged

o the

sarcophagus,

s

Professor

Rodenwaldt

elieves,

t is

natural o

suppose

hat

plinth

nd

sar-

cophagus ept

achother

ompanyhrough

ll the

vicissitudesf

heir

history,incetheyare found t Pawlowsk ogether, nd that the

draughtsman

ad his

own

reasons or

eaving

he

former

ut of

his

sketch.

The

lid

is

not

at Pawlowsk

nd,

as there s no

record f t

either n Stephani's atalogue

r

in

the description

f

the works f

art t

Pawlowsk adeduring

he

first

alf f

he nineteenthentury,

it

presumablyarted ompany

rom he

sarcophagus

efore

he

atter

was

transferred

o

that collection. In the

drawing

t is

decorated

with

a

long

frieze-like

anel,

surrounded

y

a

narrow rame

nd

flanked

t

each corner

y

a

satyr-mask

een n

profile. Carved n

relief n thepanel re sixAmorinimountednsea-beastsndfacingalternatelyo right nd eft. On the extremeeft nAmorino ides

a

dolphin owards

he

right,

nd

coming

owards im

s

a

second,

riding

sea-ram nd

masquerading

s

Hermeswith

winged ap

and

caduceus.

The

third,

acing

o

the

right,

estrides

sea-bull

nd

holds

rudder,

hefourth

ides owards

im

on a

sea-horsend

holds

part

fa

spear ?)

in his

eft

hand.

Back

o back

with he fourth

s a

fifth

morino

n a

sea-gryphon

nd armed

with

a

sheathed

word,

and

the eries

nds

with

nother

olphin, arrying

he ixth

Amorino

on its

back, acing

o

the

eft.

Both

dolphin-riders

re

on the

point

of whipping p theirmounts. Of the otherfoureach steadies

himself

n the

saddle

by clinging

n

with

ne

hand

tohorn r

mane.

The

second,

ourth

nd fifth

re

winged

nd

there

eems o be

the

trace

f a

wing

n

the

eft

houlder f

the

first.

We have

no

inde-

pendent

means

of

judging

whether he

lid in the

drawing eally

belongs

o the

sarcophagus

r

not,but,

s we shall

ee,

hecharacter



6/18

i8

A ROMAN

SARCOPHAGUS

AT

PAWLOWSK

AND ITS

FELLOWS.

of the design

would support

the viewthat

it is the original

lid,

of

the same date as the rest of the sarcophagus.

The Pawlowsk

sarcophagusbelongs

to

a large and

well-known

class

of sarcophagi escribed

by Altmann

Architectur

nd

Ornanwentik

der antiken Sarkophage)

as

'

Guirlanden-Sarkophage,'

n which

generally

wo, but

sometimes hree,

arge festoons

r garlands

form

one of the leading

elements

n the decoration

f the

long side. There

are fourtypes

of Roman

Guirlanden-Sarkophage.'

First,those

on

which,

as

on our sarcophagus,

he garlands

re supportedby

Amorini,

while masks

ill he semicircular paces

above the

garlands

secondly,

those

in which

figure-scenes

re substituted

for masks thirdly,

he

typewith Victoriesor Nymphs, nsteadofAmorini,holdingup the

garlands,while

masksoccupy

the field

above each

garland;

and

fourthly,

hat with

Victories or

Nymphs as supports

and

figure-

scenes

n the place

of

masks.

All

four'

ypes

of

Roman Guirlanden-

Sarkophage

in general

and

our

Pawlowsk

example

in particular1

are

assigned

y

Altmann

to the first entury

.D.

'Aus dem Gesagten

geht hervor,

wie

die Mehrzahl

der Guirlanden-Sarkophage

em

erstennachchristlichen

ahrhunderte

ngeh6rt

2;

and again,

'

Das

erste nachchristliche

Jahrhundert

un

fullen

die

Guirlanden-Sar-

kophage.'3

One of my objects

in this

paper

is to attemptto show

thatthePawlowsk arcophagus nd the wholegroupof Guirlanden-

Sarkophage'

to which it

belongs

should

be

assigned,

not

to

the

first entury,

ut

to the

first alf

of the

second,

to the

age

of

Hadrian

an.d

he

early

Antonines.

Since

the

Mausoleum

of

Augustus

was used for more

than

a

century

fter

ts

erectionas

a last

resting

place

for members

f

the

imperial

familia,

it

is clear that the

reputed provenance

f

our

sarcophagus,

ven

if certain-and

we have

good

reason

to

regard

t

as

far

from

being

so4-cannot

furnish

s with

any

external vidence

for ts

date.

We

are

therefore

orced o

rely pon

nternal

vidence-

the styleof its relief-work-and ur obvious course n attempting o

fix he

date by

such

means s

to

compare

one

of

the

leading

features

of

its

decoration,

the

garlands

of fruit and

flowers,

with

similar

garlands

ccupying

similar

osition

of

prominence

nd

importance

on

monuments

f certain

date. For the first

entury

we

possess

a

small

series

of such

definitely

ated monuments.

We

begin,

of

course,

with

the

magnificent

arlands

of the Ara

Pacis,

decreed

in

13

B.C.5

The

altar at

Naples,

dating

fromthe

year

A.D.

18,6

is

a

second

landmark,

nd we have

a third in the altar of

Amemptus

n

the Louvre, forwhich the inscription,describingAmemptus as

1

Altmann,

op.

cit.,

p.

76.

2

ibid.,

p. 80.

3

ibid.,

p.

IOO.

4

vide

supra,

p.

14.

5 Strong,

Scultura

romana,

p.

47,

fig.

z


7/18


8/18

20 A ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS AT PAWLOWSK AND ITS FELLOWS.

protest. The third rides gaily upon an ass; the fourthhas slipped

offover his horse's tail and is seated on the ground, still clutching

the bridle and the fifth, eated in a similar

position,

but having,

apparently, allen offfrom he side, also reins n his mount, n this

case

a

panther, by the bridle. The sixth, seventh and eighth are

careering long in grand tyle,mountedon an ass,

a

lioness and

a

lion

respectively.

Trees and

reeds are faintly ndicated in the back-

ground. But our main business s with the treatment f the fruit

and flowergarlandson the front. Each of the garlands emerges t

either nd from large, stylised alyx

of

ong, spiky eaves, and forms

a

stiff, ompact

and

solid

mass

of

large, heavy

fruits,

ccasionally

varied by five-petalled, osette-like lowers, et close togetherone

beside

the

other.

Leaves and small

berries re carved

in

low relief

on

the background

t the

edges

of

the festoons,but these do

not

relievethe hardness ftheir outlines. For all their richness nd the

careful modelling

of

the individual fruits hese garlands must be

described

as

purely

conventional. One

glance

is sufficiento

reveal

the gulf

hat

separates

hem

from

he

wreaths f the

Ara

Pacis on

the

one

hand,

and from

he

garlands

of

the

Julio-Claudian nd

Flavian

altarson the

other. The

sarcophagus arlandshave not that rounded

look

as of real

garlands uspended

n

mid-air,

which in the festoons

of the Ara Pacis is produced by the skilfulgradation of the relief

from he sides

owards he

centre. We miss, oo, the ife nd lightness

of the Augustan wreaths,where the fruits

are

much

smaller

in

proportion

and,

instead

of

being massed together,

are

separated

fromone anotherby

a

wealth of flowers,eaves and corn-ears nd

sprays

of

ivy,

oak

and laurel which spread out on to the background

from

he centre of

the

garlands

nd serve to break and

soften

heir

outlines. This

naturalism,

n the

best sense

of the

term, begins

to

disappear

in the

Julio-Claudian garlands,

as

can

be seen when we

compare

the

altar at

Naples

with the Ara

Pacis,

and

therealreadywe can detect the

beginnings

f a new

process

which came to

take

the

place

of that

naturalism,while

being,

ike

t, essentially

he

product

of the

Roman

age, and which developed rapidly through

the Flavian period down to the end ofthe first entury .D. This

new

process

s the use of

the drill for

boring

nto

the surface

f the

garlands,

for

deeply undercutting individual leaves,

fruits

and

flowers,

nd

for

producing strong contrasts

f

light

and

shade, an

effect

described

by

Professor

Rodenwaldt

as

'

eine

prickelnde,

nerv6se

Lebendigkeit.

Once

again,

we

findnothinig

f this n the

garlands fourdated Hadrianic sarcophagus.

It is

clear,

then,

that the

style

of

the

Hadrianic

garlands

s

quite

distinctfrom either of the

two

methods of treatment

mployed

n

the

garlands

of dated

monuments of

the

first century. Indeed

1

op. cit., p. 24.



9/18

A ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS AT PAWLOWSK

AND

ITS

FELLOWS. 2I

this conventional

reatment

f the garlands

s just what

we should

expect in a Hellenisingage, when vegetable formswere studied

not so much

for

theirown sake, with

a view

to reflecting

ature

or producing

pictorial

effect,

s fortheir

value as pure

ornament,

and when the

decorator

turned more

readily to

mythology

nd

human life

than to the

plant

and animal

worldsfor his

material.

Hence the

Hadrianic fruit

nd flower

garlandshark

back to Greek

and Hellenistic

prototypes

the garlands

f

the Lateran sarcophagus,

with

their harp

outlines

nd

flat, ompact

forms,

tand much

closer

to those of

the circular

Dionysiac altar

in the

theatre at Athens,

dated by

its inscription

s

belonging

to the

years

140-130

B.C.,

than to the wreathsof the Ara Pacis. We mustnow return o the

garlands

of the Pawlowsk

arcophagus.

Falling

from

arge,stylised

oak-leaf calyces,

these

garlands

are

made

up

of

the

same large,

heavy,

carefully

modelled fruits

nd occasional

rosette-like

lowers

as

those on the

Lateran sarcophagus,

rrangedcompactly

n neat,

orderly

rows,

one row

being

carefully

ivided

offfrom anotherby

a

coil

of the taenia

whichis

twisted

roundeach wreath

and holds

it

together,

motive

which

gives

an added touch

of

conventionality

to their general

appearance.

They

are flat, solid

festoons,with

hard,

crisp outlines.

We

look

in vain for

the naturalismof

the

Ara Pacis and for the pictorial treatmentof the Julio-Claudian

and Flavian

altars,

forany,

that is to say,

of the features hat

we

should

expectto find

f Altmann'sfirst-centuryating

were correct.

Without

doubt,

it is the

second-,

not the

first-,entury arland-style

that

meets

us

here. Apart

from he

taeniae

twisted round

the

body

of

the wreaths

the

family

ikeness etween

the Pawlowskfruit-and-

flower arlands

nd

those

of

the

Lateran

piece

is so

striking

hat on

the

score

of the

garlands

alone we

should

be

justified

n

assigning

the former

o

the

same date

as the

latter-to the

time of Hadrian.

But

there

s

yet

another

point

of close

resemblance etween

the

two

sarcophagi. No less mportant hanthegarlands s a leadingmotive

in

the decoration

re the

figures

upporting

hem,

the fourAmorini

of

the Pawlowsk

arcophagus

nd

the two

Amorini nd

Satyr

on

the

one

in

the

Lateran.

We have

seen

that

the

attitudesof the

corner

Amorini

are identical

on both

pieces,

but the

likeness

goes

much

further

han

that.

We

find on both

the same

chubby,

baby faces,

the

same

well-rounded, plump

little bodies and

round,

sturdy

limbs,

he

same

treatment

f the hair marked

y

the careful

endering

of the

separate

ocks

nd

the absence

of

drilling.

The one

difference

lies inthetreatment ftheeyes,whichare leftplainin thePawlowsk

Amorini

but incised

in the Lateran

pair.

But

plain eyes

are

no

argument

for

an

earlier

date,

for

eyes

are not all

plain

in the

first

century

nd

all

incised

after

the

beginning

f Hadrian's

principate.

1

Sch6ne,

Griech.

Reliefs,

Taf. v-vi.



10/18

22

A

ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS AT

PAWLOWSK AND ITS

FELLOWS.

The plasticrendering

f the eyes

occurs poradicallyn relief

culpture

from heAra Pacis onwards nd,though twas certainly omingvery

much

nto fashion nder Hadrianand became

almostuniversal nder

the Antonines,

we note its absence

in so well authenticated

a

Hadrianicmonument s

the

dated

altarfromOstia in the

Terme.

Having now,

as I

hope,

established the

Hadrianic date of

our

sarcophagus

in the

light of the dated

Lateran piece, we

will

look at some

other

examplesof Roman

'

Guirlanden-Sarkophage

selected

from Altmann's list

and elsewhere,

observinghow they

conform o,

or

deviate

from, he canons

of Hadrianic style n the

treatment

oth of garlands nd

of figures.

Of thefirst ypeof thesesarcophagi, hoseonwhich thegarlands

are held

up by Amorini,while

masksoccupy the spaces

above, we

will

taketwo

examples

from he Terme and the

Lateran

respectively.

The

Terme

piece

is a small child's

sarcophagus,

ound

in

I885 on

the

Via

Salaria.1

On

the

front re

two garlands

upported

on

the

shoulders

f

three

Amorini,

with

a

pair

of

comic

masks, esting

n a

rocky edge,

above each

garland.

The three

Amorini,

f

whom

the

left-hand

and

central

ones are

winged,

but the

right-hand

one

apparently ot,

are

in

precisely

he same attitudes

s

the two corner

and

the

left-hand

central Amorini

of

the

Pawlowsk

sarcophagus.

They displaythe sameroundness nd chubbiness nd,apartfrom he

presence

of

a

few

small

drilled

holes,

the same

treatment f the hair

while,

s on the dated Lateran

piece,

the

pupils,

f the

eyes

re

marked.

In

the garlands,

which

show

no

undercutting,

he same

type

of

calyx

appears

as

on the Lateran

sarcophagus.

Ihe

left-hand

garland

s

composed

of

heavy, compact

fruits,

he

right-hand

ne is

made

of

long, flat,

piky eaves,

with

a

flower

f the familiar

osette

type

in

the centre.

The

corners

bove

and

below

the

garlands

re

filled

as usual

with

taeniae.

The character

of both

garlands

and

Amorini

eaves

no room for doubt

that

Amelung

is

right

n

saying

that the sarcophagus diirfteaus der Zeit Hadrians stammen.'

It

is

interesting

o

compare

the

designs

on the shortsides with the

lid in the

Codex

Pighianus

drawing.

On

the

left-hand

hort

ide

an

Amorino

rmed with

a

spear

rides

on a

sea-dragon

owards

he

right

(plate i,

f)

on the other

hort

ide another

Amorino,

masquerading

s

Hermes with

winged cap

and

caduceus,

ides

to

the

left n a sea-ram.

Since,then,

the

motives

on the lid

in the

drawing

do

actually

occur

on

a

sarcophagus

of

this

date,

we

have

at

any

rate

some

grounds

for

hinking

hat the lid

may

actually

have

belonged

to the Pawlowsk

sarcophagus3 Of the lid of our Terme piece Helbig says: ' am

I

Melanges

d'archeologie

et

d'histoire,v, I885,

PI.

x; Paribeni, Museo Nazionale

Romano,

p.

245,

no.

695; Helbig,

op. cit., ed.

3, 11,

p. I96, no.

I455.

Altmann (op.

cit.

p. 75), writing

n I902,

reproduces

it as

his figure

z8 with

the legend

'

Villa

Pamfili' below,

but according

to Strena

Helbigiana,

p. 5,

note 4, published

in 1900, the

sarcophagus

was then in the

Museo

Nazionale.

2

StrenaHelbigiana,

loc. cit.

3

Three

of the

figures

n the Codex Pighianus

lid-Amorino on

sea-bull to r., Amorino

on sea-

horse

to 1. and Amorino as

Hermes on sea-ram



11/18

A ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS

AT

PAWLOWSK

AND

ITS FELLOWS. 23

Deckel sehen wir jagende Putti.' But

the

hunters,

who are coping

with a bear, a lion, a boar and a fourth nimal, now lost, are not

'putti,' forthey

are bearded. The

group

of the

huntsman

bowling

over a bear on the extreme ight

s

repeated on the front

f another

sarcophagus

n the Terme.

1

The

Lateran

sarcophagus

Sala

ix),

of which the front lone

is

preserved,

s

decoratedwith two large

garlands of the same heavy fruit

nd

rosette-like lowers

merging

from fig-leaf calyces. The garlands are supported

by three

Amorini

with the

same

round, plump limbs and bodies

and baby

faces. A pair ofDionysiac masks, een in profile, n a rocky edge,

occupy the space above each garland. This sarcophagus

is,

perhaps,a little ater thanthe Pawlowsk, ated Lateran, and Terme

sarcophagi.

The drill has

been

used

for

cuttinggroove-like

ines

in

the hair

of

the

masks

and

for

outlining

the

individual

fruits nd

flowers,

use which

s,

of

course,quite

different

rom

hat displayed

on

the

Junia

Procula altar,

where the

drilling serves

the

purpose,

not

of

outlining,

but

of

throwing p

the

fruit nd

flowers n strong

lights against

dark

shadows. The

garlands

are,

also,

as a

whole,

still

stiffer

nd

flatter than

those

of

the

three

sarcophagi just

mentioned.

One

of the

finest

xamples

of

the

second

type

of Guirlanden-

Sarkophage,' hosewithAmorini,but with figure-scenesnstead of

masks

bove

the

garlands

s

the

fragment

f

a

sarcophagus

ront n the

Museo

Archeologico

at

Venice,

containing

the

right-hand

garland,

the

central

and

corner

Amorini

upporting

t

and,

on

a

rocky edge

above

the

garland,

a

scene

representing

he

Rape

of

Persephone.3

Robert

assigns

he

fragment

o the

second half of the first

entury.

But

the

style

f the

garland

s not that

of

either he ate

Julio-Claudian

or

the

Flavian

period.

It falls rom

he same

massive

alyces

s

appear

on

the Hadrianic

sarcophagus

n the Lateran

and,

though

t

is

perhaps

slightlyricher and less rigidthan

the

wreaths

of the

latter,yet itsflatness nd compact solidity, s contrastedwith the light and shade

effects

f

the

first-centurvarlands, learly

mark t out as

belonging

to the

early

second

century. Again,

the

modelling

of

the limbs

and

bodies

of the Amorini

and

the

treatment

of

their hair

bring

the

fragment

nto close

relationship

with

the

Hadrianic

piece.

Nor

again

does

the

scene above

the

garland convey

that

impression

f

spatial depth

which

Sieveking

as

shown

to

be

an

essential

haracter-

istic

of

first-century

eliefs.

Similarly,

he

style

f

Amorini, arlands

and

figure-scenes

n

the

sarcophagus

n the

Palazzo

Mattei

at

Rome

with scenes from the storiesof Oedipus and of Polyphemus and

to

1.-occur on a fragmentary

arcophagus

id in

Berlin

(Berlin, Beschreibung

er antikenSculpturen,

no.

906).

I

Paribeni,

op. cit.,

p.

I38,

no.

z64

(Chiostro,

Ala III).

2

Benndorf-Schbne, ie

antiken

Bildwerke

des

lateranensischen

useums,

.

I88,

no.

294.

3

Robert, Die antiken

Sarkophagreliefs,

II,

3,

no-

358)

p.

457,

P1. cxix.

4

Das romische

Relief

(Festschrilt

Paul

Arzdt,

I925).



12/18

24 A

ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS AT

PAWLOWSK

AND ITS

FELLOWS.

Galatea,

1

and

on that

in

the GiardiniGherardesca

n Florence,with

scenesfrom he story fPhiloctetes, forbids s to agree with Robert

in

describing

hem both

as

'Arbeit des

ersten Jahrhunderts.' Still

more

closely

allied

to

the dated Lateran

sarcophagus

s

a

recent

addition to the Terme from

the Via Labicana.

On the front

stiff, olid fruit-garlands,

f which each fruit s

modelled separately

from he rest,flat n treatment

nd hard in outline,hanging from

fig-leaf alycesof the usual kind,

are supportedby three wingless

Amorini

with

slightly ncised eyesand undrilled

hair, who, though

not

nearly

so pretty

or

so successfulas those

of the sarcophagi

discussed o far, how, nevertheless,

he samegeneralcharacteristics.

The rustic scenes of sacrifice bove the garlandshave the regular

neutralbackground nd non-spatial

ffect

f

Hadrianic reliefs.

The

short sides

bear

a close resemblance

to those

of

the Pawlowsk

sarcophagus. Each is decorated

with a garlandhanging from the

shoulder

f

the

cornerAmorinoon one side

and

from

he tail of an

inverteddolphin

on the other. The spaces

above the wreaths

are

filled, owever,not with flutteringaeniae,

butwithanimal scenes,

stork evouring

snakeon the eft plate i, d),

an

eagle tearing

hare

on

the

right plate i, e).

Paribeni

assigns

the

sarcophagus

o the

beginning

f thesecond century

.D.; it

may

well have been executed

during he principate fHadrian.

Of the third type

of

'


hose

with

Victories

or

Nymphs

nstead

of Amorini and with

masks above the

garlands, here

s a muchweathered xample

n

theBorghese

Gardens

at

Rome with

three

winged Victories,

which

need not detain

us here.

Of the fourth

type,

with

supporting

Victories

or

Nymphs

and

figure-scenes

nstead

of

masks, ne

well-known

nstancewill

suffice,

the

Actaeon sarcophagus

in

the Louvre,

dated

as

Augustan

by

Altmann,4 Wace,5

Robert6 and

Mrs.

Strong,

but now

rightly

attributed

by

Sieveking8

nd

Mrs.

Strong9

to

the

age

of

Hadrian.

There is, of course, no need for me to describe so familiara

sarcophagus

here.

f

would only

call

attention o the fact that

its

Hadrianic date is indicated

not

only by

the neutral

background

f

the figure-scenes

nd the Neo-Attic

influence visible

in the

'

Meerthiasos

on the

lid,

the two

points

which

Sievekingbrings

forward,

ut also

by

the

treatment

f

the

garlands,which,

though

somewhat

more undercut than

those

of the Lateran

piece

etc.,

are

undeniably

he

product

of

the

Hadrianic

garland-style.

The

'

Guirlanden-Sarkophage'

were

never

completely

usted

by

those with scenes frommythology r daily life,though

the latter

1

Robert,

op.

cit.,

II,

pp.

I90-I)

P1.

lx.

2

ibid. pp.

I48-I52, Pi.

ii-

3

N.d.S.,

6th

series,

voL i,

1925,

pp.

407-9,

fiz.

i, tav.

xxiv.

4

op.

cit.,

p.

79.

o

Papers

of

the BritishSchool

t

Roie, V, p. I96,

P1.

xxiii.

6

op. cit.,

II, I, pp.

I-5,

P1.

i

7

op. cit.,

p.

52, fig-0-

8

oP. cit.,

p.

32.

9

op.

cit.)

p.

4I7.



13/18

A ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS

AT PAWLOWSK AND ITS

FELLOWS. 25

became increasingly opular

from the second half of the second

centuryonwards. A garland-sarcophagust Naples, dated by the

male

and female

portraitbusts above the garlands

to the middle of

the third

century,

howstheirstyle t this period.

1

In the garlands

the drill

has

come into ts own again, but the effects dull and lifeless

and there is no Julio-Claudian

prickelnde,

ervc'se

Lebendigkeit

to compensate for the

loss of the richness nd carefulmodellingof

Hadrianic work.

The

Amorini are no longer charmingbabies, but

ugly, lanky boys, with unpleasing top-knots and hair that is

riddled

with

drill-holes. But there was an intermediatestage,

which

I

will

illustrate

by

three

'

Guirlanden-Sarkophage whose

style,while closelymodelled on that of the Hadrianic age, yet gives

the

mpression

f a

somewhat aterdate. Of

what s

perhaps he atest

ofthetrio, sarcophagus t Clieveden, decorated

withfour

Amorini,

threegarlands,

mask

bove the first nd thirdgarland,

nd a modern

bust above the second,Robert

says:

'

The sarcophagus

may well

belong

to

the beginning

of the second century:

it can hardly be

later than the

time

of

Trajan.'

2

But a comparison f the Clieveden

sarcophaguswith

the dated Lateran piece must surelyconvince us

that the former,

with

its

far

flatter nd more rigid

garlands nd its

Amorini,who, though

babies still in

body, are

less child-like nd

pleasing in expressionand have rudimentary top-knots,' s the

work

of a

period

later

than the time of

Hadrian.

Similarly,

he

delightful arcophagus

n the

Metropolitan

Museum

at New

York,

with

three

garlands,

four Amorini

and

scenes from the

story

of

Theseus

above the

garlands,

which Robert

rightly

describes

as

nicht alter

als die Zeit

Traians,' shows a degreeof stiffness,

latness

and

conventionality

n

the treatment of

the

garlands

of

leaves,

grapes

and

flowerswhich seems to mark t as

post-Hadrianic.

But

the

Amorini,

f

somewhat ess

graceful

n

pose,

are the

same

chubby

babies

as those of the

Hadrianic

sarcophagi,

nd the

charming esignon the lid,withtwo Amorinimounted,one on a lion,theotheron a

goat,

and

four others

driving

n

bigae

drawn

by

bears, lions,

oxen

and

boars

respectively,

mmediately

recalls

the

lids of

the

d ated

Lateran

sarcophagus

nd the

Codex

Pighianusdrawing,

nd the short

sides

of the child's

sarcophagus

n

the

Terme.

Finally,

on our

third

sarcophagus,

that

in the

Palazzo

Barberini,

decorated

with

four

Amorini,

three

garlands

and scenes from

the

legend

of

Marsyas

above,

we

notice not

only

ncreased

solidity

nd compactness

and

a free

use of

hard,

drilled ines n the

thick, ope-like

estoons

f fir-

cones, fruit, orn-ears nd flowers, ut also a heaviertouch in the

treatment

f

the

Amorini.

But

if

the execution s

Antonine

t still

1

Ruesch, Guida

del MuseoNazionale

di Napoli,

I9I

I, p. I2,

no.

28;

Phot. Alinari no. 3433I

Napoli.

2

7.H.S.,

xx,

pp. 8I-2,

P1.

vii, ,

b,

c.

3

Robert, op. cit., III, 3 no.

425,

pp-

50I-5,

P1. cxxxiii.

4

Robert,

op. cit., III, 2,

no.

I96, pp.

244-6,

P1. lxiii.



14/18

z6

A ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS AT

PAWLOWSK AND ITS FELLOWS.

breathes

he spirit fHadrianic

work. At any

rate we cannot

accept

Robert'sconclusion s to its date, ausgezeichneteArbeitdes ersten

Jahrhunderts.'

To

sum

up, the Pawlowsk

sarcophagus, lleged to

have

come

from he Mausoleum

of Augustus,

belongs to a clearlydefined

eries

of Roman

'


he earliest

xamples

of which,

owing to

their close

affinities ith the dated

Lateran

sarcophagus,

must be

assigned o the

Hadrianicage. We have

seenthatAltmann's

first-century

ating

is quite

incompatible

with

the

style

of the

garlandson the pieces

which we have examined,

nd I am not aware

of

the existence

f anyotherswhich

revealfirst-centuryorkmanship.

The actual idea of introducingAmorini to support the hanging

garlandswas not, of

course, invented

in the second century

A.D.

We meet with

it,

for instance, on the

probably pre-Augustan

Monument

of the Julii at S.

Remy,I

on the Claudian

relief with

personifications

f Etruscan cities

in the

Lateran,2 and on

the

architectural

elief,

lso in the

Lateran,

from

he

Monument

of the

Haterii,dated by its

portrait usts o the Flavian

period.

It further

appears

on the lid of a sarcophagus

n the Galleria

Lapidaria in the

Vatican,4

the front f which is

decoratedwith a couple

of winged

and

horned

lions and acanthus

scrolls bearing such a

remarkably

close resemblanceto the winged and horned lions and acanthus

scrolls n the Lateran frieze-fragments

romTrajan's forum5

hat it

seemsvery probable

that the sarcophagus s

also of Trajanic

date.

But it

was the Hadrianic

designer

who first ave the

Amorini-and-

garlandmotive place

of honour

on the front f sarcophagi,

ealising,

no

doubt, not only

its intrinsic uitability or

such

a field but

also

the opportunity

whichthe Amorini

nd the

semicircularpaces

left

freefordecoration bove

the garlandsgave to

artistswhose

interests

lay

in

the human face and

figure

nd in

mythological

cenes

rather

than invegetablemotivesfor heirown sake. What,then, tmaybe

asked,

are the Roman sarcophagus

ypes

of the first entury

.D.

The

answer

s

that

no such typesexist.

In his

recent

article

on

the

Caffarelli

arcophagus

n

particular,

nd

first-centuryarcophagi

n

general,

ProfessorRodenwaldt produces

only

three

real

sarcophagi,

including the Caffarelli

iece, which he

can assign

to

that

period.

Of

these the Caffarelli arcophagus,

which

he dates

from

the

style

of

its garlandsas early

Tiberian,while

Roman in

the

treatment

f

its

garlands

and bucrania, is Greek

inasmuch

as all

four

sides

are

decorated, nd withregard

o

the

othertwo,

the

Raffael

arcophagus

in the Pantheon and the sarcophagusdecorated with acanthus

scrolls n

the

Campo

Santo

at

Pisa,

his assignment

f

them

to

the

1

Brunn-Bruckmann,enkmdler,

1.

496.

2

Strong,

op.

cit., p. 96,

fig. 66.

3

ibid.,

p.

130,

fig. 83.

4

Amelung,

Cat., p. 256, P1.

26;

Gusman,

L'art

dkcoratif e Rome,

P1.

54.

5

Phot. Alinari

no.

635o

Roma.

6

op.

cit.,

p.

14,

figs.9,

IO.

7

ibid., p. I6, fig. iz.



15/18

A ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS AT PAWLOWSK AND ITS FELLOWS. 27

beginning

f the Empire

nd to the Flavian ge respectively

s only

tentative. Nor is it any onger ossible o give first-centuryate

to the sarcophagust Naples

decoratedwithpilasters,

arlands nd

figures

f

gods

and Muses,whichhas long

enjoyed

reputationor

being Augustan.2

As Mrs. Strong points

out,3 Sieveking, n

his

article nRomanreliefs,

now assigns he sarcophagus

o the time

ofHadrian.And, ndeed,

otonly oes carefultudy

f hegarlands

themselves

eveal closekinship ith he

garlands four Hadrianic

'

Guirlanden-Sarkophage,'ut

a first-centuryate seems

o

be ruled

out by theirposition n the

design, ythe mpression

heygive of

onlybeing

here, s it were, n sufferance,

trained ightlycross he

top insteadof hangingnaturally,rd even then, n some cases,

encroachedpon by the

figures f gods and Muses,

who form he

main

ubject

f

the

decoration

just

as on the

octagonal

inerarium

ofLucius Lucilius Felix

n the Capitol5the conventional

arlands

and Silenus-masks,

arvedn low relief

round he top,are but

the

merest ccessory

s

comparcdwith

the

seven charming

morini,

ownbrothers

o the Amorinif the sarcophagi,

ho aremodelled n

high

relief nd

occupy

more than three

quarters

f

the available

field.

The fact is thatwhilethe dated Hadrianic

Orestes

and

Niobid

sarcophagin theLateran

stand

n

date, s

well

s in beauty,

at the head of the long ineofRomanmythologicalarcophagi,7

so

also the

predecessors

f

the

Hadrianicdecorative arcophagi

re

exceedingly

ew

nd far

between.

Is

it possible

hat n this udden

efflorescence

f the art of

sarcophagus

ecoration nder Hadrian,

which

eems o

imply fairly ide-spread

ubstitutlon

f

burial

for

cremation

n

disposing

f

the

dead at

this

pericd,

we

have

the

reflection

f somechange nthe eschatological

utlook

f

he

Roman

world

t the

beginning

f thesecond

entury

.D.

?

I

This first-century ating has, in

fact, been

questioned by C. Weickert who, in his reviewof

Rodenwaldt'saper.

Gnomon,

927,

pp.

2I5-222),

assigns

both

sarcophagi

o the second

century.

2

Altmann,

op.

cit., p. 53, fig.

zi;

Strong,

op. cit.,

p.

5I,

fig. 2.

3

Op.

Cit., p.

4I7.

op. cit.,

note

64.

?Mus.

Capit.

Cat.,

p.

9I,

no.

Io,

P1.

z6;

Strong,

op.

cit., p. 290, figs. 176,

177;

Gusman,

op. it.,

pl.

34-

6

Strong,op. cit.,

pp.

283, 285, figs. 74, I75.

'

I have not been able to discover any

mythological sarcophagus of the Roman period

which can be assigned, ither on external evidence

or on grounds of style, to a pre-Hadrianic date.

Altmann's dating of the Ny-Carlsberg Dionysiac

sarcophagus Arndt, La Glyptotbeque y-Carlsberg,

p. zog, fig. iz6)

as

'

sicher

trajanisch is based on

the falseassumption hat the lid with the Trajanic

reclining igure elongs to it.



16/18

J.R.S.

vol.xvii

(X927).

PLATE

I.

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17/18


18/18

J.R.S.

vol. xvii

1927).

PLATE

-1II.

41~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toynbee_A Roman Sarcophagus at Pawlowsk and Its Fellows

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