A Marble Garland Sarcophagus and Lid of Publius Palaus Primitivus, Roman Imperial, circa A.D. 170

carved in front with three erotes holding a large filleted garland laden with fruit, confronted theater masks in the lunettes, a satyr at left and a maenad at right, a seated griffin in low relief on each short side; the gabled lid, probably belonging, decorated in front with twin panels, each showing two reclining erotes holding a garland, on either side of a central framed panel of inscription carved with five lines of Latin inscription, D(IS) M(ANIBUS).  P(UBLIO) PALAO PRIMITIVO P(UBLIUS) PALAUS HERMES ET AEMILIA ATTALIS ALUMNO KARISSIMO (“To the Spirits of the Departed. Publius Palaus Hermes and Aemilia Attalis [had this sarcophagus made] for their most cherished foster son Publius Palaus Primitivus).

Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca (1756-1844), Villa Pacca, probably found during the cardinal’s excavations at Ostia in the 1830s;

Baron Maximilian von Heyl (1844-1925), Darmstadt;

Hugo Helbing, Munich, Katalog der Sammlung Baron Heyl, Darmstadt. Vol. II: Sammlung antiker Kunst, Darmstadt, October 30th, 1930, no. 32, pl. 14.

Friedrich Matz and Franz v. Dühn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom, vol. III, Leipzig, 1882, p. 207, no. 3969;                                      

Herrmann Dessau, Inscriptiones Latii veteres latinae (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vol. XIV), Berlin, 1887, p. 146, no. 1445;

Deutsches archäologisches Institut, Rome, neg. nos. (19)79.1783-1787;

G. Koch - H. Sichtermann, Römische Sarkophage, Munich, 1982, p. 231, no. 21
Symposium über die Antiken Sarkophage: Pisa 5.-12. September 1982 (Marburger Winckelmann-Programm 1984), p. 24;

H. Herdejürgen, “Girlandensarkophage aus Ostia”, in Roman Funerary Monuments in the J. Paul Getty Museum, vol. I (Occasional Papers on Antiquities, vol. 6), Malibu, 1990, p. 107f., fig. 15a-b;

H. Herdejürgen, Die dekorativen römischen Sarkophage. Stadtrömische und italische Girlandensarkophage. Die Sarkophage des 1. und 2. Jahrhunderts (Antike Sarkophagreliefs, vol. 6, 2,1), Berlin, 1996, pp. 69, 72f., and 133, no. 90, pls. 88,2.5; 89,4; 92,1.2;

Arachne, no. 12661 (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/12661).

Front relief scene in very good condition overall, save for minor weathering. Stress crack through the ankles of the central Erote. Chips and abrasion to the lower edge, the lower right corner broken off. Proper right short side repaired diagonally. The entire back of the sarcophagus appears to have been restored from one large slab of marble, covered in rough cement. An iron clamp visible to the top edge at one end. The lid with relief scene and panel with inscription slightly weathered and very dirty. A large section at the back of the lid broken and loose. In our opinion the lid appears to belong to the sarcophagus. A modern tag stamped '6832' attached to the lid. Comes with two modern supports in the form of column bases, both made of local limestone.
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