• r2-212-10
    Block with woman in relief, Manisa 315. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Block with Woman in Relief

Date
1st or 2nd C. AD, Roman
Museum
Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, 315
Museum Inventory No.
315
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
Manisa 315
Material
Marble, Stone
Object Type
Sculpture
Sculpture Type
Other Architectural Piece, Human Figure, Draped Woman
Site
Sardis
Findspot
Sardis, 1947.
Description

A priestess, praying with raised arms, stands on the end of a block. She wears a peplos, belted beneath the breasts, and an extra piece of cloth hangs diagonally across her chest. The drapery clings to both legs and falls in three heavy folds, one at each side, and one between the legs. She has bare feet. The head seems to have had the hair piled up on it, but all details are worn away.

There is a single raised frame and a receding background. The finished face of the r. side was exposed and worn. The l. side is rough with anathyrosis. Two dowel holes are on top at the l. side; the smaller is a regular bridge clamp.

The peculiarity of the piece's depth suggests that it may have been used in a temple or heroon wall; perhaps, since it has anathyrosis on only one side, it may have been placed at the corner of such a wall. The figures from the temple of Hadrian in the Campus Martius and on the attic of the wall of the Forum Transitorium in Rome, although stylistically not the same, are similar in the relationship of the figure to the block.

Condition

Limestone-like marble.

Block preserved in entirety. Upper r. corner is worn.

Dimensions
H. 0.54; W. 0.43; D. 1.08. Large dowel hole: L. 0.10; W. 0.45; D. 0.04. Smaller dowel hole: 0.03 by 0.02 by 0.035 D.
Comments
See Also
Bibliography
For temple of Hadrian, see D. Strong, Roman Imperial Sculpture, fig. 83. For Minerva on Forum Transitorium wall, see Kähler, Art of Rome, 114.
Author
NHR