A COMPOSITION STONE CAST OF A ROMAN MARBLE CINERARY URN INSCRIBED FOR AURELIA ACHAICE, EARLY 19TH CENTURY, THE ORIGINAL CIRCA 1ST HALF OF THE 1ST CENTURY A.D. | A Composition Stone Cast of a Roman Marble Cinerary Urn inscribed for Aurelia Achaice

of rectangular form, the tabula ansata flanked by fluted pilasters and containing three lines of Latin inscription reading D(is) (M)anibus / Aureliae / Achaices ("To the Spirits of the Departed of Aurelia Achaice"), the gabled lid decorated with leaf-shaped rooftiles, palmette acroteria, and pulvini with rosettes in front, two confronted birds in the pediment.

Christie’s, London, July 13th, 1983, no. 263, illus., as "late 1st to early 2nd Century A.D."
Hermann Historica, Munich, October 13th, 2010, no. 2084, illus, as "Römisch[...], im Stil des 2. Jhdts. n. Chr."
Mougins Museum of Classical Art, inv. no. MM.2011.589 (Drouot-Richelieu, Pierre-Bergé, October 10th, 2017, no. 62, illus., as "Art Romain, IIe siècle")
acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2010-2017

John Pollini, Mougins Museum of Classical Art, 2011, p. 105, fig. 67 (as Roman)
Friederike Sinn, Stadtrömische Marmorurnen, Mainz, 1987, p. 278 (referencing the Christie's 1983 sale)
D. Kossmann, “Lateinische Grabinschiften in Auktionen des Jahre 2010, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, vol. 193, 2015, pp. 290-292, illus., as "zweite Hälfte des ersten Jahrhunderts".

The original Roman marble urn from which the present lot was cast was first recorded in the early 19th Century at Alnwick Castle, the country seat of the Dukes of Northumberland, where it was said to have been found in the area of Corbridge in England (E. Mackenzie, An historical, topographical and descriptive view of the County of Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1825, p. 453). Subsequent publications of the inscription are based on the 1825 reading (refs. at https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/2326). In 1874, the urn could no longer be found at Alnwick (F.J. Haverfield, AJ, vol. 31, 1874, p. 350, note 2). 

In 1997, two identical cinerary urns from the Dukes of Northumberland Collection, each identified as marble, inscribed for Aurelia Achaice, and with dimensions and decoration matching those of the present urn, were catalogued as “1st-2nd Century A.D.” and offered as consecutive lots at Sotheby’s, Syon House, Brentford, Middlesex, May 14th-16th, 1997, nos. 612 and 613 (both unillustrated). At least one of these two urns had to be another cast. The other one could have been either the marble original or yet a third cast. Differences in estimates and sales prices suggest that at least one of them was made of marble.