Object details
Object number
S12s2
Creator(s)
Roman
Title
Small Sarcophagus
Date
about 125
Medium
Proconessian marble
Dimensions
36.8 x 154.9 x 30.5 cm (14 1/2 x 61 x 12 in.)
Additional Dimensions
Sarcophagus: H. (approx.) 1 ft. 2 ½ in. W. 5 ft. 1 in. D. (top) approx. 1 ft.
Pedestals: H. 2 ft. 2 in. W. 5 in. D (greatest) 1 ft.
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Inscription (on the central tablet): D[is] M[anubus] / VIPIA E*M*F* / HYGIAE* / PARENTES*FILIAE* / PIISSIMAE*FERCERVNI* ("To the Gods and Shades / To Ulpia Hygia the daughter of Marcus / The parents made this / for a most devoted daughter")
Provenance
Transcribed and described by Aldus Manutius, the Younger (1547-1597) in the Vatican gardens. Described by the same author soon after, in the Cortile del Belvedere, Vatican.
Eventually, in the vineyard called Jacobini detta dell' Orologio near the via Portuense, Rome.
By 1899 it was sold to an antiquities dealer, perhaps A. Scale, Rome.
Purchased by Dr. Henry C. Sartorio from the dealer A. Scale, Rome in January 1922.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the dealer Dr. Henry C. Sartorio, Rome for 5,000 lire on 25 May 1923, through Mrs. Henry L. Higginson (Ida Agassiz, 1837-1935).
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Bibliography
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 6, no. 29362.
Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma (Rome, 1899), p.287.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 80. (Roman style, 4th or 5th century [CE], perhaps 15th century or even later)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III. "Roman Sarcophagi in America: A Short Inventory" in Philipp von Zabern (ed.). Festschrift für Friedrich Matz (Mainz, 1962), p. 101, no. 5.
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), p. 42, no. 57. (Roman, about 125 CE)
Gallery
East, North, And West Cloister
Rights and reproductions
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