DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4377#0185
ENVIRONS OF CNIDUS. 515
The third sarcophagus, C, is much plainer than
the others. (See Plate LXX.)
These sepulchral monuments are unquestionably
of the Roman period. I should consider them to
have been erected at the same date as the statue.
The execution of the ornaments is coarse, and the
design rather remarkable for a lavish display of
decoration than for refinement of taste. But the
general effect of the ornament was very rich, and
these sumptuous examples of Roman art would
have been well worthy of a place in the national
collection, had they been in finer condition. The
sides had been split in many places by the expan-
sive force of the roots of the brushwood, and the
marble generally was in so unsound a state that the
removal of the sarcophagi could only have been ac-
complished by dividing them into many fragments,
and packing all these separately, to be rejoined and
repaired on their arrival at the British Museum.
As I did not feel sure that the merit of these
sculptures would have repaid the cost and trouble
which their restoration would involve, I left the
sarcophagi in situ after having removed the statue.
This tomb having been long since rifled, the sar-
cophagi were found quite empty, and only fragments
of their massive lids remained. A few pieces of
very coarse unglazed red pottery and of Roman
glass were met with in the rubbish of the tomb.
I found one small fragment of painted ware with
red ornaments on a black ground. This was very
coarse, and the varnish much corroded, as in the
latest specimens of Greek ceramography.
The third sarcophagus, C, is much plainer than
the others. (See Plate LXX.)
These sepulchral monuments are unquestionably
of the Roman period. I should consider them to
have been erected at the same date as the statue.
The execution of the ornaments is coarse, and the
design rather remarkable for a lavish display of
decoration than for refinement of taste. But the
general effect of the ornament was very rich, and
these sumptuous examples of Roman art would
have been well worthy of a place in the national
collection, had they been in finer condition. The
sides had been split in many places by the expan-
sive force of the roots of the brushwood, and the
marble generally was in so unsound a state that the
removal of the sarcophagi could only have been ac-
complished by dividing them into many fragments,
and packing all these separately, to be rejoined and
repaired on their arrival at the British Museum.
As I did not feel sure that the merit of these
sculptures would have repaid the cost and trouble
which their restoration would involve, I left the
sarcophagi in situ after having removed the statue.
This tomb having been long since rifled, the sar-
cophagi were found quite empty, and only fragments
of their massive lids remained. A few pieces of
very coarse unglazed red pottery and of Roman
glass were met with in the rubbish of the tomb.
I found one small fragment of painted ware with
red ornaments on a black ground. This was very
coarse, and the varnish much corroded, as in the
latest specimens of Greek ceramography.