Details

LOT 0758

Roman Redware Bowl Fragment with Hippocampus and Standing Nereid

1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

4 3/4 in. (77 grams, 12 cm).

From the upper part of a vessel with two hippocampi (one partial) and a standing figure of a Nereid, floral and foliage decoration to the field, ornamental upper border; repaired. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired 1960s-1990s.
From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister

Literature

Cf. Beutler, F. et al., Der Adler Roms. Carnuntum und die Armee der Cäsaren, Bad-Deutsch-Altenburg, 2017, item 697, for similar fragment.

Footnotes

The complete vessel probably represented scenes linked with the cult of Poseidon and Amphitrite. The riches of the sea and the dangers of navigation were merged by the ancients into a myth of great fame known as the wedding procession between Poseidon - brother of Zeus and Hades, god of the sea and the Nereid Amphitrite. The Nereids were the divinities of the sea, grandchildren of the ocean. Like the nymphs, all the Nereids were beautiful young women who spent their time singing or weaving. Also involved in the procession were the tritons and hippocampi, who provocatively played shells or were ridden by Nereids.