LOT 0162

Roman Lead Sarcophagus Panel with Sphinxes, Dolphins and Masks of Medusa

2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

16 1/8 in. (6.4 kg, 41 cm wide).

Decorated with a high-relief pattern comprising sphinxes, dolphins and masks of Medusa in fields between columns; ropework and floral border strips with laurel leaves.

From a West Sussex, UK, collection, 1990s.

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).

There were many ways of burying bodies during the Roman Empire. Although the majority were buried without coffins, there is evidence for wooden coffins, lead-framed wooden coffins, tile burials and lead and stone coffins. This item belongs to types widespread in the Eastern Mediterranean. The panel is decorated with a columned structure, and within each section are symbols of the outer-world, including gorgons,
sphinx and dolphins. The sphinx, having a human head and breasts, legs and paws of a lion, and wings of a bird, was generally associated with protecting imperial tombs and temples. The roundels featuring the head of Medusa, known for her potent gazes that could turn one to stone, was favoured on sarcophagi and architectural ornaments because it was believed that her image would protect those within. The dolphin was considered to ferry the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Very often these sarcophagi were connected by a pipe to the ground above so that
mourners could pour in offerings into the grave.