Seasons Sarcophagus

Place of OriginItaly, Rome

Datec. 280-290 CE; re-carved 15th century

DimensionsL x W x H: 28 × 25 × 84 1/2 in. (71.1 × 63.5 × 214.6 cm)

MediumMarble

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Dorothy Mackenzie Price

Object number

2016.70

Not on View

Description

Label TextThe marble used for this sculptural sarcophagus (coffin) would have been roughly cut at the quarry before being shipped to a stone-carving workshop. There, decoration would have been carved, except for the central roundel; that part would be sculpted as a portrait of the deceased at the time of purchase. This sarcophagus features four erotes, winged companions of Venus, the goddess of love, each associated with a season. Look, for example, for the personification of Summer with his sickle and Autumn with his basket of grapes. Each figure stands next to a krater, a large vase used for mixing wine and water. In this context, the kraters are receptacles for goods related to a particular season. Because imagery symbolizing the seasons is found in pagan, Christian, and Jewish contexts alike, the religious affiliation of the patron of this sarcophagus is unclear. However, it is likely it was never used as a coffin in antiquity: the medallion portrait of a woman was probably carved in the 15th century, demonstrating the preservation and reuse of ancient art and traditions throughout the Middle Ages.Published ReferencesGori, Antonio Francesco, Inscriptiones Antiquae in Etruriae Urbibus Exstantes, Vol. III, Florence, 1743, pp. 131ff., pl. 40.

Ritchie, Andrew C., Albright Art Gallery. Catalogue, 1934, p. 174 (illustrated).

Blue Book of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, in which is incorporated the Albright Art Gallery and the Albright Art School: 1931–1942, Buffalo, NY, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1943, p. 122 (illustrated).

Ritchie, Andrew C., ed., Catalogue of the Paintings and Sculpture in the Permanent Collection, Buffalo, NY, The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, 1949.

Hanfmann, George M. A., The Season Sarcophagus in Dumbarton Oaks, Vols. I–II, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1951, Nos. 435, fig. 39, 436.

Andresen, Carl, Deutsche Literaturzeitung für Kritik der internationalen Wissenschaft, vol. 76, 1955, p. 293.

Casini, Nadia, “Il sarcofago di Apricula,” Archeologia Classica: Rivista dell'Istituto di Archeologia della Università di Roma, vol. 9, 1957, p. 78.

Lawrence, Marion, “Season Sarcophagi of Architectural Type,” American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 62, 1958, p. 278.

Hanfmann, George M. A., Gnomon, vol. 31, 1959, p. 538.

Jucker, Hans, Das Bildnis im Blätterkelch. Geschichte und Bedeutung einer Römischen Porträtform, Olten, Urs Graf-Verlag, 1961, p. 35, n. 8.

Vermeule, Cornelius C., “Roman Sarcophagi in America: A Short Inventory,” in Himmelmann, Nikolaus, and Biesantz, Hagen, eds., Festschrift für Friedrich Matz, Mainz, P. von Zabern, 1962, p. 101.

Vermeule, Cornelius C., “A Greek Theme and Its Survivals: The Ruler's Shield (Tondo Image) in Tomb and Temple,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 109, no. 6, 1965, pp. 378–392, Fig. 41.

Turcan, Robert, Les sarcophages romains à représentations dionysiaques. Essai de chronologie et d'histoire religieuse, Paris, Éditions E. de Boccard, 1966, pp. 80, 301, 346, 563, 595, 606, 610f., 613, 619.

Sichtermann, Hellmut, “Beiträge zu den Meerwesensarkophagen,” Archäologischer Anzeiger, 1970, p. 231, n. 68.

Schauenburg, Konrad, “Die Sphinx unter dem Clipeus,” Archäologischer Anzeiger, 1975, p. 286, n. 28.

Eberle, Adolf, “Un sarcophage romain unique en son genre,” Hefte des Archäologischen Seminars der Universität Bern, vol. 2, 1976, p. 17, No. 2.

De Luca, Gioia, I monumenti antichi di Palazzo Corsini in Roma, Rome, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1976, p. 102.

Kranz, Peter, “Zu den Anfängen der stadtrömischen Säulensarkophage,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung, vol. 84, 1977, p. 353, n. 29.

Schumacher, Walter Nikolaus, Hirt und "Guter Hirt": Studien zum Hirtenbild in der römischen Kunst vom zweiten bis zum Anfang des vierten Jahrhunderts unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Mosaiken in der Südhalle von Aquileja, Rome, Herder, 1977, p. 250, n. 103.

Nash, Steven A., with Katy Kline, Charlotta Kotik, and Emese Wood, Painting and Sculpture from Antiquity to 1942: Collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York, Rizzoli International Publications, in association with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1979, p. 76 (illustrated).

Koch, Guntram, and Hellmut Sichtermann, Römische Sarkophage, Munich, C.H. Beck, 1982, p. 219, n. 22, and p. 222.

Kranz, Peter, Jahreszeiten-Sarkophage: Entwicklung und Ikonographie des Motivs der vier Jahreszeiten auf kaiserzeitlichen Sarkophagen und Sarkophagdeckeln, Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs, Band 5, Teil 4, Berlin, Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1984, pp. 29f., 35, 41–45, 51, 57, 93, 96f., 99, 113, 115, 117, 127, 131, 142f., 167, 173, 192–193, No. 31, and pls. 22:1, 23, 31:4, 84:7.

Kleiner, Diana E. E., and Susan B. Matheson, eds., I, Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome, New Haven, Conn., Yale University Art Gallery, 1996, pp. 208–209, No. 164.

Exhibition HistoryBuffalo, New York, Permanent display at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1939-2007.

New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Art Gallery; San Antonio, Texas, San Antonio Museum of Art; Raleigh, North Carolina, the North Carolina Museum of Art; Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome, September 6, 1996-June 5, 1997.