Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE A: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title:
Sarcophagus of a Child, with Myth of Prometheus
Image View:
Detail, small dog (missing head) by hand holding poppy-heads
Creator:
unknown (Roman (ancient))
Location:
repository: Musei Capitolini (Rome, Lazio, Italy) inv. MC329
Location Note:
Piazza del Campidoglio, 1; Palazzo Nuovo, Hall of the Doves
GPS:
41.893056 12.4825
Date:
ca. 3rd century CE (creation)
Cultural Context:
Roman (ancient)
Style Period:
Imperial (Roman)
Work Type 1:
sarcophagus
Work Type 2:
sculpture (visual work)
Work Type 3:
relief (sculpture)
Classification:
sculpture
Material:
Pentelic marble
Technique:
carving (processes)
Measurements:
1.173 m (length)
Description:
From the Villa Doria Pamphili (Porta Aurelia), Albani Collection. On the lid of the sarcophagus lies the figure of a child in a long tunic, one hand under the head, the other holding two poppy-heads. Beside his pillow sits a small slave holding a bird and a bunch of grapes; a small dog is by his right hand. The sides are decorated with a relief sculpture of the myth of Prometheus, which shows the Birth and Death of Man. In the central scene, Prometheus sculpts man and Athena (Minerva) gives it life in the form of a butterfly. To the left, the butterfly leaves the body and Hermes (Mercury) accompanies the soul, materialized into the figure of Psyche, into the afterlife. (Source: Jones, Henry Stuart, ed.; Catalogue of the ancient sculptures preserved in the municipal collections of Rome ..., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912-)
Collection:
Adjunct Module A: Italian Art
Identifier:
7A3-R-CM-SMP-A07
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Sarcophagus of a Child, with Myth of Prometheus