Front Panel from a Sarcophagus

about A.D. 180

Medium

Marble

Dimensions

46.5 × 173 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-191424

This fragment preserves the front panel of a four-sided sarcophagus. The inscription identifies its intended occupants as Titus Aelius Evangelus and his wife, Gaudenia Nicene. He reclines on a *kline* (couch) with a wine cup in one hand and a cluster of grapes in the other. A rooster is perched at his feet. His wife stands and the foot of the couch, a cup of wine raised high in one hand and a garland in her lowered hand. A goat looks out from behind her legs. In front of the couch stands a small three-legged table and a basket-wrapped bottle with its lid off. The scene suggests a funeral banquet and feast. Vignettes depicting aspects of Titus’s daily life, notably his profession as a wool merchant, surround them. To the left, a bearded man seated on a stool holds a small comb in his left hand and with his right, pulls wool through a five-pronged tool attached to a chair-like frame; a ball of wool lies on the seat. At the far right, a young man seated at a low table pulls a thick strand of wool from a basket at his feet and winds it into a ball, likely onto a distaff in preparation for spinning. Other tools of the trade are nearby—a scale with large hooks for hanging wool and an a…