Front panel from a child's sarcophagus

Date3rd c

Artist Roman (Roman, NA)

CultureRoman

MediumMarble

DimensionsOverall: 17 1/2 × 58 1/2 × 4 in. (44.5 × 148.6 × 10.2 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, gift of the Friends of the Vassar College Art Gallery and Noma and William Copley, by exchange

On View

On view

Period3rd c

Classification(s)

Terms

Antiquity

InscribedInscribed (at upper edge): D FLABIVSCHRYSIONPATERETMATFILIAE COSSVTIAFLABIA DVLCISANNORY V?M [Dominus Flavius Chrysion the father, and the mother of the daughter Cossutia Flavia, the sweet one of five years]

ProvenancePurchased from Ingrid and Bruce McAlpine, London, 1981

Label TextThis panel from a child’s stone coffin (sarcophagus) depicts a chariot race among winged cupids. The details of this imaginary race are quite accurately rendered, down to the tower-like building decorated with the sculpted eggs used to count the laps around a typical hippodrome. The race itself conveys the action and confusion of horses and riders in pitched competition, some of the characters portrayed in triumph, others crashing in defeat. The custom of holding chariot races as part of funerary games has a long history in ancient Greek and Roman history and literature, going back to the Iliad of Homer in the eighth century BCE. Yet in a symbolic light, this contest might represent the passage of time, with the specter of an early death implied in the defeat of at least one of its childlike contestants. An inscription, which may have been added later, refers to the deceased as “the sweet one of five years.”

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu