Roman Lead Coffin Panel with Sphinx, Medusa and Dolphins

2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D

31 1/2 in. (13.65 kg, 80 cm).

Decorated with a high-relief pattern comprising sphinxes surrounded by dolphins and masks of Medusa surrounded by laurel leaves all between Corinthian columns; ropework and floral border strips with laurel leaves above and lip below the upper edge.

Provenance

Acquired 1970s-early 1990s.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.

Literature

See Payne, G., Roman Leaden Coffin discovered at Plumstead in Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol.17, 1887, fig.10, for the presence of lead sarcophagi in Roman Britain; for a similar specimen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no.31.116a-i; Penn Museum, coffin panel B10280, from Lebanon (Tyre).

CONDITION

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LOT 0113