DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15100#0180
120
PLATE XLVII.
CUPIDS DISPLAYING A PORTRAIT.
A sarcophagus; in the centre is a shield or medallion, contain-
ing a bust, front face, of an elderly man, clothed in the toga, sup-
ported by two flying Cupids. Towards the extremities of the
front of this sarcophagus are two other winged boys, each of whom
is holding a diadem, apparently composed of two strong bands
twisted together in the middle having been passed through two
beads at each end. At each lower corner, under one foot of each
of these boys is a rabbit1 at the mouth of its burrow feeding upon
fruit. These two boys have not the hair raised in front, or twisted
along the top of the head as is usual in figures of Cupid. Under-
neath the medallion and its supporters are various symbols of
Bacchus. In the centre three masks, of a goat, of Bacchus, his
head entwined with vine leaves and fruit, and of Silenus ; on one
side of these are a lighted torch and a recumbent goat; on the
other, the sacred cista partially open, out of which a snake appears
ready to emerge, and is playing with a panther. The bust is
probably a portrait of the person whose remains were once de-
posited within the sarcophagus, and the Bacchic emblems under-
1 This animal which is generally described by Archteologists as a hare is asso-
ciated with Bacchic symbols on a bas relief engraved, Zoega, Die Antiken Basreliefen
von Rom, pi. xxv. but its presence there or on sepulchral monuments such as the one
before us has not been satisfactorily explained. See Welcher, Nachtrag zur Trilogie,
p. 237, also Gerhard, Auserlesene Vasenbilder, p. 186, who supposes that the hare
eating fruit is a symbol of the calm repose enjoyed after death.
PLATE XLVII.
CUPIDS DISPLAYING A PORTRAIT.
A sarcophagus; in the centre is a shield or medallion, contain-
ing a bust, front face, of an elderly man, clothed in the toga, sup-
ported by two flying Cupids. Towards the extremities of the
front of this sarcophagus are two other winged boys, each of whom
is holding a diadem, apparently composed of two strong bands
twisted together in the middle having been passed through two
beads at each end. At each lower corner, under one foot of each
of these boys is a rabbit1 at the mouth of its burrow feeding upon
fruit. These two boys have not the hair raised in front, or twisted
along the top of the head as is usual in figures of Cupid. Under-
neath the medallion and its supporters are various symbols of
Bacchus. In the centre three masks, of a goat, of Bacchus, his
head entwined with vine leaves and fruit, and of Silenus ; on one
side of these are a lighted torch and a recumbent goat; on the
other, the sacred cista partially open, out of which a snake appears
ready to emerge, and is playing with a panther. The bust is
probably a portrait of the person whose remains were once de-
posited within the sarcophagus, and the Bacchic emblems under-
1 This animal which is generally described by Archteologists as a hare is asso-
ciated with Bacchic symbols on a bas relief engraved, Zoega, Die Antiken Basreliefen
von Rom, pi. xxv. but its presence there or on sepulchral monuments such as the one
before us has not been satisfactorily explained. See Welcher, Nachtrag zur Trilogie,
p. 237, also Gerhard, Auserlesene Vasenbilder, p. 186, who supposes that the hare
eating fruit is a symbol of the calm repose enjoyed after death.