Roman, Eastern Empire, Imperial Period, ca. 2nd century CE. A magnificent marble funerary stele, hand-carved to display the relief image of a mother and child facing forward and standing in an archway, perhaps representing the threshold between the living and afterlife. Draped in a long veil, the mother stands to the right with arms folded at her waist, holding the fabric of her palla as her stola lies beneath, cascading down her body in billowing folds. The child stands contrapposto to the left, wearing a short tunic, which suggests he is male, and bending his left arm at the elbow, while his right lays to his side holding a small object, perhaps a toy. A pointed hat caps his head. The archway under which they stand is supported by a pair of columns with rectangular capitals that flank the figures and a pair of rosettes on either side of the arch. A beautiful reminder that, like these figures beneath the archway, we are all just passing through! Size: 3.5" L x 10.9" W x 21.6" H (8.9 cm x 27.7 cm x 54.9 cm); 26" H (66 cm) on included custom stand.

The area below the figures bears an inscription in ancient Greek. While the top line likely states the name of the deceased - possibly Zinobia or Zinobius, of who dedicated this stele, or of the deceased's hometown, the bottom line reads "XAIPE," which translates to "farewell."

This piece is rife with symbolism of life's largest and ultimate transition: death. The couple's placement beneath this arch may be read as passing through a gateway, possibly a tomb or Hades, indicating their positioning on the threshold between this world and the next. Additionally, the rosettes are commonly associated with mourning and death. The depiction of these flowers as perpetually ageless serves as an expression of the Roman belief the soul's continued existence. Romans also thought of the bones or ashes of the deceased of generating flowers, as another Roman epitaph reads: "Here lies Optatus, a child ennobled by devotion: I pray that his ashes may be violets and roses, and I ask that the Earth, who is his mother now, be light upon him, for the boy's life was a burden to no one." (J.M.C. Toynbee, Death and Burial in the Roman World [Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971, 1996], pp. 37)

Prior to the 2nd century, Romans cremated their dead; around that time, inspired by the Greek and Etruscan practice of using sarcophagi, they began to place their dead in sarcophagi. This trend spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire. In the western part of the Empire, sarcophagi were placed inside a mausoleum against a wall or in a niche, so the only decorated panels were on the front and the short sides. This stele probably came from the grave of a high-status Roman citizen.

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Provenance: private Vero Beach, Florida, USA collection, acquired before 2003; ex-old English collection, acquired in London in the 1980s

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#177245

Chipping with loss to lower left corner. Abrasions and weathering commensurate with age. The back has been sliced off making it much easier to display, lighter and more attractive. Great preservation of detail throughout.