Roman Art

CONTENTS

Director’s Foreword

7

Acknowledgments

9

Introduction

11

Roman Copies and Adaptations of Greek Sculpture The Decoration of House and Villa Luxury Art

Seán Hemingway

Paul Zanker

84

CHRISTOPHER S. Lightfoot

176

Shrines of the Lares and Offerings to Other Divinities Roman Egyptomania

CHRISTOPHER S. Lightfoot

Tombs and Funerary Monuments Imperial and Private Portraits

Architectural Elements

Paul Zanker

216

246

Paul Zanker

260

Paul Zanker

Gladiatorial Games, Sports, and the Military

28

294 Paul Zanker

342

Paul Zanker

A Selection of Roman Works and Their Modern Histories

366 Joan R. Mertens

376

floor plan of the greek and roman art galleries

392

concordance

394

Bibliography

397

Index

410

photography credits

423

Director’s Foreword In the founding of the United States, ancient Rome provided a model for the new republic’s government as well as the names and symbols of its institutions. Similarly, Roman art has been central to The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s identity from its establishment in 1870. The very first object to enter the collection was a Roman marble garland sarcophagus, and the facade of the Museum’s building on Fifth Avenue, which opened in 1880, is unmistakably neoclassical. The department devoted to the art of Greece, Etruria, Rome, and Cyprus was formally established in 1909 as the Classical Department and was renamed the Department of Greek and Roman Art in 1935. During the twentieth century, the focus of acquisitions and scholarship favored Greek art over Roman, but this imbalance was definitively redressed in 2007 with the opening of new galleries for Hellenistic and Roman art. They allowed for a carefully considered historical and thematic presentation of our rich Roman holdings. A major component of the new installation was the famous cubiculum from Boscoreale, which was relocated from the Museum’s Great Hall to become the centerpiece of the Roman galleries. The latest addition to the collection is the splendid marble puteal (wellhead) with Narcissus and Echo, and Hylas and the Nymphs.

In recent years, the Museum has published important scholarship on the Roman collections, from a catalogue of the Roman sarcophagi by Anna Marguerite McCann

in 1978 and the first detailed study of the Roman portraits

by Paul Zanker in 2016 to the exhibition catalogues The Year One (2000) and Ennion: Master of Roman Glass (2016). Essays on various aspects of Roman history and art are a feature of the online Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. What has been lacking is a comprehensive publication of the Roman collection that describes the individual pieces and situates them in the context of their time and their function.

It is a pleasure, then, to present this publication, so thoughtfully completed under Seán Hemingway, John A. and Carole O. Moran Curator in Charge, which includes the Museum’s famous masterpieces as well as objects that bring us closer to some of the everyday realities of a distant time. The authors give readers and visitors to the galleries a path to understanding what the achievements of ancient Rome and the classical tradition mean to us today.

This publication was generously underwritten by James and Mary Hyde Ottaway and The BIN Charitable Foundation, Inc., to whom we remain deeply grateful for their ongoing commitment to advancing scholarship on Greek and Roman art at The Met. Max Hollein Director The Metropolitan Museum of Art

7

Acknowledgments This book is the product of extensive collaboration, and the authors wish to acknowledge the many individuals who helped to bring it into existence. We are grateful to Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO, and Max Hollein, Director, for their support and encouragement. Carlos A. Picón, former Curator in Charge of the Department of Greek and Roman Art, first asked Paul Zanker to undertake the research and writing in 2015. During the preparation of the handbook, Professor Zanker held the position of Dietrich von Bothmer Distinguished Research Scholar, endowed by Shelby White and the late Leon Levy as well as by Barbara Fleischman and the late Lawrence Fleischman. We are indebted to them for their generosity, which made it possible for Professor Zanker to be lead author and a valuable presence in the department as a constant source of information, advice, and enthusiasm for Roman art. Alan Shapiro translated all of Professor Zanker’s texts from German into English with great sensitivity and care.

In the Department of Greek and Roman Art, Seán Hemingway, John A. and Carole O. Moran Curator in Charge, acted as the primary liaison for the project with Scala Arts Publishers, Inc. and The Met’s Publications and Editorial Department, ensuring that the publication proceeded to its successful conclusion. Special mention is due to Debbie T. Kuo for her unflagging assistance with all practical matters connected with Professor Zanker’s stays in New York. Sarah Szeliga was of great assistance obtaining references through The Onassis Library for Hellenic and Roman Art. John F. Morariu, Jr. and Katherine Daniels facilitated the examination of works of art as did, for specific works, Dorothy H. Abramitis in the Department of Objects Conservation. Jennifer S. Soupios assisted with marshaling all of the images of artworks featured in the handbook. Michael J. Baran and Melissa Sheinheit helped with a variety of administrative tasks. We thank C. Griffith Mann, Michel David-Weill Curator in Charge of the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, for consenting to the inclusion in this publication of two Late Roman sculptures from his department’s collection.

We express our appreciation to Barbara J. Bridgers, Head of Imaging, and her team of photographers, notably Peter Zeray, for the excellent illustrations featured in these pages. Robyn Fleming was a great help in excavating resources in the Thomas J. Watson Library. Julie Zeftel shared her incomparable knowledge of the Museum’s photographic archives. We give thanks as well to Marc Waelkens, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and former Director of the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project, Turkey. Sincere gratitude to Drs. Erika Zwierlein-Diehl, Claudia Wagner, and Maya Muratov for their generous assistance regarding gems.

Jörg Deterling kindly provided provenance information.

This book is a joint publishing venture. We must first thank Mark Polizzotti, Publisher and Editor in Chief of the Publications and Editorial Department at The Met, for his support as well as that of his colleagues Gwen Roginsky, Peter Antony, and Michael Sittenfeld. At Scala, we are particularly indebted to Jennifer Norman; Kate Norment, whose exceptional editorial care has shaped the book; and Theresa Huntsman, who also provided meticulous editing.

Miko McGinty, Rita Jules, and their design team provided a superb layout. Ana-Sofia Meneses diligently obtained the comparative images. We owe special thanks to Andreas Scholl, Director, Martin Maischberger, and Agnes Schwarzmeier of the Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and also Taylor Thomson, for their additional and most generous aid.

Finally, we are indebted to James and Mary Hyde Ottaway and The BIN Charitable Foundation, Inc., for making possible this beautiful publication.

Seán Hemingway, John A. and Carole O. Moran Curator in Charge Christopher S. Lightfoot, Curator Joan R. Mertens, Curator Paul Zanker, Dietrich von Bothmer Distinguished Research Scholar Department of Greek and Roman Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art

9

Introduction

Roman Art: A Guide through The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Collection revives an old tradition of handbooks of Greek and Roman art in the Metropolitan Museum, but it is organized and presented to allow today’s audiences to engage with the art and culture of a time that may seem, in many respects, remote.1 It seeks to give the reader and museum visitor insights into ancient Rome through the detailed examination of more than two hundred works of art in The Met’s collection. New color photography accompanies the text, where each object is given a fuller consideration than one might expect in a traditional handbook or guide. Only a careful discussion of the works can reveal the issues that this book seeks to explore, such as how the pieces were originally displayed or used. The audience for this guide includes visitors to the Museum who experience a connection with an object in the Roman ­galleries and come to the book for more information, as well as readers who are inspired by the book to see the actual artworks—remarkable time travelers that they are from one of the great civilizations of antiquity.

Most of the book is written by Paul Zanker, a ­distinguished scholar of Roman art who brings to it a connoisseur’s eye and tremendous knowledge, informed by a lifetime of studying the ancient Romans through

their material culture. Contributions by curators in the Department of Greek and Roman Art provide additional perspectives on themes of central importance. Seán Hemingway, an archaeologist and expert on Greek sculpture, delves into the phenomenon of Roman copies and adaptations of Greek sculpture. Christopher S. Lightfoot, curator of Roman art for nearly twenty years and a specialist in ancient glass, explores the themes of luxury arts and Roman Egyptomania. Joan R. Mertens, senior curator at The Met, adds a final chapter on the post-­antique histories of selected objects, indicating the long and complex relationship that we have today with ancient Roman works.

Although it could serve as an introduction to Roman art, this book is not a survey and does not follow a strict chronological sequence. Rather, the reader is introduced to many aspects of Roman art through the lens of the Museum’s collection, with works that might not otherwise have been featured. The object-­oriented approach is practical and straightforward, but it does not lack in perception or interpretation. Since Roman art has been central to The Met’s collecting from its inception 150 years ago, these holdings have grown to be the most comprehensive in North America. Following the complete reinstallation of the Roman galleries in 2007, which included an extensive

Fig. 1. The Leon Levy and Shelby White Court

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Fig. 2. Portrait of a woman in a blue garment. Egyptian, Roman Period, A.D. 54–68. Encaustic on wood, 1415/16 x 83/4 in. (38 x 22.3 cm).

Director’s Fund, 2013 (2013.438)

12

Introduction

program of conservation and scholarly study, this book draws on years of collaborative research.

From the Eternal City’s mythical foundation, when twins Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-­wolf along the banks of the Tiber River, to its beginnings under the early kings (753–509 B.C.) and the long period of the Republic (509–27 B.C.), to five centuries under Imperial rule (27 B.C.–A.D. 476), the Romans created one of the most influential and far-­reaching civilizations in history.2 At its greatest expanse under the emperors Trajan and Hadrian (A.D. 98­– 138), the Imperium Romanorum encompassed the entire Mediterranean world, from Spain and Morocco to Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, and it extended far inland, to western Asia and northern Europe (see map, inside front cover).

Many of ancient Rome’s fundamental institutions and inventions, such as their governmental structure and legal codes, the Latin alphabet that has been adopted for use in numerous modern languages, and feats of engineering— including the aqueduct, the arch, the apartment complex, public baths, and great arenas for sports entertainment— remain significant legacies that underlie myriad aspects of modern Western society and are touchstones for our affinity with Roman art today. However, no matter how hard we try to imagine ourselves in the role of the ancient viewer, we live in a very different world and look at ancient art through modern eyes. We cannot suppress this fact, nor would we want to, since our fascination with the ancient world derives partly from observing a way of life and ways of thinking that are outside of our experience.

Of the more than five thousand ancient Roman works in the Department of Greek and Roman Art,3 this guide presents a selection that illustrates the richness and diversity of the collection, with an emphasis on the Imperial period.4 The major types of Roman art are represented, as well as rare and unusual pieces that provide unique windows into the lives of the ancient Romans and their artistic achievements. Nearly all of the works featured in this book are displayed on the first floor of the Museum in the galleries centered around the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court (fig. 1).5 Numerous objects in The Met’s Egyptian galleries, on the opposite side of the Great Hall, would fit just as well into the displays of Roman art. For example, among the small-­scale objects of the Roman period in Egypt ( 31 B.C.–4th century A.D.) are small bronze statuettes that

Fig. 3. Steelyard weight with a bust of a Byzantine empress.

Byzantine, A.D. 400–500.

Copper alloy, H. 91/2 in.

(24.2 cm). Purchase, Gifts of J. Pierpont Morgan, Mrs. Robert J. Levy, Mr. and Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, George Blumenthal, Coudert Brothers and Mrs. Lucy W. Drexel, by exchange; Bequest of George Blumenthal and Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, by exchange; and Rogers Fund, 1980 (1980.416)

were found in Egypt but are also known from other provinces of the Roman Empire. To some extent the same is true of the so-­called Fayum mummy portraits, likenesses painted on wooden boards that were placed on the head of an embalmed and mummified person. These first appear in the Early Imperial period and were made to provide an ongoing memory of the dead. The modern practice of placing photographs of the deceased on tombstones is not so different.

A closer look reveals that in some cases the painted portrait has been trimmed in a way that does not fit exactly onto the mummy. These images were probably often already in the family home, and were then reused or copied for the mummy. Such portraits on wooden panels survive only from Egypt, on account of the dry climate, but they surely existed throughout the empire. One example is included here (fig. 2), the beautiful portrait of a woman dressed in a white chiton (garment) and blue mantle, her

hair carefully styled in little curls, a coiffure that was modeled after that of the emperor Nero’s mother and which continued to be popular in the Flavian period (A.D. 69–96).

At the time of the Museum’s founding in 1870, the Roman Empire was considered to end with Constantine the Great (r. A.D. 306–37), the first Christian Roman emperor. Today most scholars extend it to the year A.D. 476, when the last emperor in the West, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the German chieftain Odoacer. For this reason, some works of the Late Empire (A.D. 338–476) that are displayed with the collections of the Department of Medieval and Byzantine Art are included in this book, most notably the well-­known bust of a lady with a scroll (cat. 175) and the sarcophagus with a Greek physician (cat. 145). Two more modest objects may also be mentioned. One is a bronze weight in the form of a fifth-­century A.D. bust of a Byzantine empress (fig. 3), with a hook for hanging it on a scale. The second is a small Introduction

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Fig. 4. Vessel in the shape of a bear. Roman or Byzantine, 3rd–4th century A.D. Copper alloy, H. 69/16 in.

(16.7 cm). Edith Perry Chapman Fund, 1966 (66.18)

bronze vessel in the shape of a bear, which fits comfortably into the palm and, filled with oil, could be taken along to the baths (fig. 4).

Upon entering the Greek and Roman galleries, the visitor first encounters Roman art in the impressive Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery (fig. 5), a long, barrel-­vaulted central space. Together with original Greek sculptures, it displays Roman copies and adaptations of lost statues by famous Greek masters of the sixth to fourth century B.C. A selection of these Roman works is featured in the book’s first chapter, “Roman Copies and Adaptations of Greek Sculpture.” Such sculptures were often displayed in large Roman houses and villas whose well-­educated owners insisted that the replicas of the originals they so admired were to be as exact as possible. At the same time, some Roman artists felt the need to alter the proportions of the Classical Greek originals, or even the shape of the body, to suit contemporary artistic taste, of which the statue of the so-­called Stephanos Athlete (cat. 19) is an especially good example.

These Roman copies and adaptations were not intended simply to be admired as works of art. They also 14

Introduction

alluded to Greek myths that their cultivated owners knew from poetry and other texts, as well as divinities who continued to be worshipped in Roman temples. Many copies emanated a distinctly religious aura, whether they stood in a temple, as had the Greek originals, or were displayed in an area of the home that evoked a sacred shrine.

The next and most extensive chapter of the book, “The Decoration of House and Villa,” is devoted to works that were originally in private residences. These include frescoes, relief decoration in stucco, mosaics, and terracotta plaques that adorned the walls of domestic spaces. The most detailed discussions in this chapter address the wall paintings from the villas at Boscoreale (fig. 6) and Boscotrecase near Pompeii, among the most important surviving examples of their kind. The presentation focuses not only on the paintings but also on their original contexts.

An ancient Roman domestic setting is further suggested through examples of furniture and utensils that were in daily use. The last section of this chapter is devoted to statues and reliefs that were displayed as works of art in houses or villas, always with the understanding that they were not there only for aesthetic enjoyment. They might,

Fig. 5. The Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery for Greek Art of the 6th–4th Century B.C. Introduction

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Fig. 121. Mummy portrait mask. Egyptian, Roman Period, A.D. 60–70.

Cartonnage, plaster, paint, and plant fibers, 207/8 x 13 in. (53 x 33 cm).

Rogers Fund, 1919 (19.2.6)

snake bracelet on each wrist (fig. 121).17 Snake rings and bracelets spread throughout the Roman Empire and have been found even in Britain.18 The combination of exotic animals, reptiles, and birds with Egyptian deities, whereby anthropomorphic statues, reliefs, and paintings were given animal heads, was a source of fascination, perplexity, and amusement for most Romans. Juvenal provides the locus classicus in his fifteenth satire.19 Such Egyptian imagery did not transition well into the Greco-­Roman world, where those representations that do exist are usually from religious contexts.20 The exception to this rule is the appropriation of the Egyptian sphinx, but here the figure is that of an animal with a human head and was used principally in secular settings as a decorative element.21 Likewise, statues of animals such as the crocodile (fig. 122) and the hippopotamus were often used as fountain figures to conjure up the impression of the Nile in Roman public and private gardens.22 In other Egyptian scenes Nilotic animals and natives (often depicted as pygmies or grotesques) are shown as whimsical caricatures, as evidenced by a fresco panel from the garden of the Casa del Medico at Pompeii.23 Additionally, the personification of the Nile River constitutes one of the most impressive monumental Roman marble sculptures, notably as seen in the Vatican Nile statue that was originally displayed in Rome’s Iseum Campense with a companion piece representing the Tiber River.24

Fig. 122. Crocodile statue. Egyptian, Roman Period, late 1st century B.C.–early 1st century A.D. Granite, 117/16 x 421/2 in. (29 x 108 cm).

Purchase, The Bernard and Audrey Aronson Charitable Trust Gift, in memory of her beloved husband, Bernard Aronson, 1992 (1992.13)

Lightfoot

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Fig. 123. Cameo cup fragment, showing a female figure with an Egyptian hairstyle or wig. Roman, Early Imperial, early 1st century A.D. Glass, 11/4 x 17/16 in. (3.2 x 3.7 cm).

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.194.373)

Egyptian art in the Roman period, therefore, served multiple purposes, both sacred and profane. Skilled Egyptian craftsmen were drawn to Rome itself to produce luxury items, perhaps including cameo glass, some of which were carved with Egyptian elements (fig. 123).25 Romans, too, imported a wide range of Egyptian objects— from imperial obelisks to small personal items such as shabtis (mummy figurines) and amulets.26 Italian workshops used and adapted Egyptian motifs, as on a Flavian terracotta relief decorated with a meaningless assortment of hieroglyphs.27 Some Roman objects with Egyptian decoration may have been intended to be taken as genuine antiques or, at least, works that conveyed a sense of great antiquity.28 Finally, through Rome, Egypt bequeathed two major iconographic legacies to Western and, specifically, to Christian art. The first is the image of the mother and child, shown in the guise of the goddess Isis suckling her son Horus. Numerous statuettes of Isis Lactans in bronze, faience, stone, and wood, probably gifts donated to

250 Roman Egyptomania

temples, survive.29 Smaller examples also exist as amulets, including ones from Cyprus in the Cesnola Collection (fig. 124).30 Indeed, as terracotta figurines from Capua demonstrate, the image had already been transformed into a classical version by the Early Hellenistic period (late fourth century B.C.).31 It is from such modest beginnings that the Madonna and Child of Byzantine and European art derives. The second, which is not so obvious and conclusive, is the appearance of Roman panel paintings that have miraculously survived in the dry Egyptian climate.

There are more than thirty examples with sacred images, some of which have repeated subjects and can only have served a religious purpose. They are regarded as pagan icons and so predate by two or three centuries those used in Early Christian worship. Isis, as might be expected, is the most common subject, but there are also representations of nimbate (haloed) military gods and other “saints,” from whom people sought help and protection for themselves and their families.32

Fig. 124. Amulet of Isis and Horus. Egyptian, Late Dynastic or Hellenistic, 664–30 B.C. Faience, H. 13/4 in.

(4.4 cm). The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76 (74.51.4476)

1. For recent discussion and bibliography, see Swetnam-­Burland 2015; Versluys 2017; and references in the succeeding notes.

2. Egyptian linen and, later, flax were also in great demand; see Gibbs 2012, p. 40. Gibbs, however, does not refer to either papyrus or glass production.

3. See Gates-­Foster 2012, p. 743; R. Schneider 2018, p. 209.

4. See Pollini 2018, pp. 214–15, with references.

5. Claridge 1998, pp. 364–66. For other pyramid-­shaped tombs in Rome, see Alfano 2001, p. 291.

6. Spier, Potts, and Cole 2018, pp. 258–59, no. 158 [Stephanie Pearson].

7. For example, a pair of gilded silver cups depicting crocodiles and hippopotami; Spier, Potts, and Cole 2018, p. 278, no. 175 [Jeffrey Spier].

8. For the worship of Isis and Serapis in Rome and Italy during the Late Republic, see R. Schneider 2018, pp. 207–8; Pollini 2018, pp. 211–12.

9. Pollini 2018, pp. 215–16; Bricault 2018, pp. 226–28.

10. For example, on the coinage of Amorium in Phrygia; see Katsari 2012, pp. 42–43, 78–79, nos. K19–K37.

11. Minucius Felix, Octavius 23.1: “haec tamen Aegyptia quondam nunc et sacra Romana sunt.”

12. Bailey 1980, pp. 31, 161, 190, nos. Q862, Q968, and Q969, all made in Italy in the first century A.D. Naturally, there are many more examples on Egyptian-­made lamps; see Bailey 1988, pp. 21–25.

13. For a terracotta relief, see Ramage and Ramage 2008, p. 31, fig. 31; Spier, Potts, and Cole 2018, p. 272, no. 171 [Caitlin E. Barrett].

14. Pollini 2018, p. 214; Spier, Potts, and Cole 2018, p. 282, no. 180 [Jeffrey Spier]. For gems depicting a crocodile, see Pannuti 1983, p. 147, no. 267, illustrating a carnelian intaglio from Herculaneum. For an oil lamp with a discus scene that is interpreted as a caricature of Cleopatra copulating with a crocodile, see Bailey 1980, pp. 44, 168–69, no. Q900; Walker and Higgs 2001, p. 337, no. 357.

15. Ramage and Ramage 2008, p. 46, fig. 41. It is unknown how this was received by the native population who worshipped the crocodile as a sacred animal, the embodiment of the god Sobek.

16. An early example is provided by a pair of gold snake bracelets from the Avola Hoard, found in Sicily in 1914 and dated to 330–300 B.C.; Williams and Ogden 1994, p. 210, no. 142. For matching pairs of impressive gold armbands and bracelets, probably made in Alexandria and dated to 220–100 B.C., see Picón and Hemingway 2016, pp. 225–26, nos. 159f–g.

17. M. Hill 2000, pp. 96–98, fig. 77.

18. See Johns 1996, pp. 37–38, 44–47, 109–11; Booms, Crerar, and Raikes 2013, pp. 109–10, ill.

19. Juvenal, Satires XV, 1–8.

20. For an iron ring with a carnelian intaglio of Anubis found at Pompeii, see Pannuti 1983, p. 72, no. 109.

21. Alfano 2001, p. 287, and fig. 9.1 on p. 277. For the distinction between the Egyptian and Classical sphinx, see Versluys 2018, p. 232.

22. For crocodile statues, see M. Hill 2000, p. 90, fig. 70, p. 207 (here fig. 122); Walker and Higgs 2001, pp. 339–40, nos. 360–61; Spier, Potts, and Cole 2018, pp. 276–77, no. 174 [Caitlin E. Barrett]. For crocodiles at Hadrian’s Villa and the so-­called Villa of Cassius at Tivoli, see Spier, Potts, and Cole 2018, pp. 283, 290, no. 189 [Elena Calandra]. For a hippopotamus in rosso antico marble, see Spier, Potts, and Cole 2018, pp. 274–76, no. 173 [Rolf Michael Schneider].

23. Walker and Higgs 2001, pp. 338–39, no. 359; Spier, Potts, and Cole 2018, pp. 252–53, no. 153 [Caitlin E. Barrett].

24. Swetnam-­Burland 2009.

25. van Aerde 2013, p. 4. Her totals for the number of glass cameos with Egyptian subjects may be disputed. There are, for example, five vessel fragments in the British Museum and only three in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (17.194.370, .373, .2296).

26. Alfano 2001, p. 288. For amulets, see Pannuti 1983, pp. 70, 72–74, 181–84, nos. 107, 110–12, 350–60.

27. Spier, Potts, and Cole 2018, pp. 273–74, no. 172 [Christian E. Loeben].

28. Versluys 2018, p. 235.

29. Bommas 2012, p. 419, fig. 25.1. Terracotta figurines of Isis Lactans appear at the beginning of the Roman period; Sandri 2012, p. 635, fig. 38.3.

30. See Myres 1914, pp. 452, 499, nos. 4476–77 (faience), 5020 (bronze statuette).

31. R. Schneider 2018, p. 207, fig. 64.

32. Walker 2000, pp. 124–27, nos. 79–82. Isis Lactans and military gods are also depicted on wall paintings; Frankfurter 2012, p. 322, fig. 20.3; Riggs 2018, p. 223, figs. 74–75.

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Cat. 120

Sistrum (rattle) Imperial, 1st–3rd century A.D. Bronze, L. 51/4 in. (13.3 cm) Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1897 (97.22.2)

The sistrum is an instrument of Egyptian origin and commonly associated with the worship of the goddess Isis. It was shaken vigorously and, presumably, persistently to ­create a jingling sound that was intended to scare away evil spirits and provide a rhythmic background sound to ceremonies. A wall painting from Herculaneum depicts one such ceremony in front of a sanctuary of Isis in which a priest and priestess of the cult are shown holding sistra, and Roman sculptures of the goddess often represent her with a sistrum in her right hand.1 Several actual sistra, including ones in silver, have been found at Pompeii; others have been recovered from the Tiber River at Rome.2 They,

like this example, are decorated at the top with a cat, again an animal closely associated in both religion and art with Egypt.3 Since it is rather small and has only three instead of four rattle bars, this sistrum may have been used by a child.

1. For example, the marble statue of Isis from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, now in the Musei Capitolini, Rome (inv. no. MC 744).

2. Ward-­Perkins and Claridge 1976, p. 199, nos. 196–97; Walker and Higgs 2001, p. 332, no. 351. For other Roman sistra, see Musée du Louvre-­Lens 2017, pp. 343–45, nos. 397–400.

3. Another very attractive example is in the Department of Egyptian Art (MMA 19.5); Winlock 1921, p. 29, fig. 6.

References: Richter 1915, p. 454, no. 1777; McClees and Alexander 1933, p. 14, fig. 17; McClees and Alexander 1941, p. 14, fig. 17.

Cat. 121

Mosaic floor with an Egyptianizing scene Late Hadrianic or Early Antonine, ca. A.D. 130–50 Stone and glass, 10 ft. 41/2 in. x 10 ft. 43/4 in. (316.2 x 316.9 cm), central panel 461/2 x 461/4 in. (118.1 x 117.5 cm) Gift of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1945 (45.16.2)

This mosaic was found near Prima Porta, just north of Rome, in 1892. It was one of several mosaics uncovered in a villa complex. Set in the center of a floor of typical Roman geometric and floral designs is a figural panel.

Often such panels depict mythological scenes and familiar

Fig. 125. Detail of Osiris flanked by Isis (right) and Nephthys (left), mummy portrait mask. Egyptian, Roman Period, A.D. 60–70. Cartonnage, plaster, paint, and plant fibers, 207/8 x 13 in. (53 x 33 cm). Rogers Fund, 1919 (19.2.6)

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Roman Egyptomania

Cat. 121 Lightfoot

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