Nuovo bullettino di archeologia cristiana: ufficiale per i resoconti della Commissione di Archeologia Sacra sugli Scavi e su le Scoperte nelle Catacombe Romane (15.1909)

A CUKIOUS REPRESENTATION OF THE EPIPHANY

There is, in the Villa Doria-Pamfili at Pome, an hitherto
unpublished relief of the Epiphany. It is a fragment, being the
right front end of the lid of a sarcophagus. At present it is
placed in the wall of the stairs that ascend to the palazzo on
the right, with severa! other marbles, pagan and Christian.

It represents the Adoratimi of the Magi and is a complete
scene. Garucci says nothing of it, but Grousset enumerates it
in his catalogue of Christian sarcophagi (n. 80) It is also re-
ferred to by Liell in his hook on representations of the Virgin 2,
and by Max Schmid in his study on the Nativity 3, although
he remarks that the relief has really nothing to do with the
Nativity. Grousset places it in the fifth century, and he is pro-
bably correct, for although the fragment is badly damaged, yet
it is apparent that the intention of the technique is so careless
and crude that it cannot be placed earlier.

1 René Grousset, Etude sur l'Histoire des Sarcophages Chrétiens de
Home. Catalogue. Paris, 1885.

2 Liell, Die Darstellungen Maria». Freiburg i. B., 1887, n. 58.

3 Max Schmid, Die Darstellungen der Geburt Christi. Stuttgart, 1890,
n. 20, p. 13.