Grave relief

Summary

The relief is made of Pentelic white marble with grey stripes and yellow patina. The acroteria and the lower right hand corner are broken off. Other breaks have been mended in plaster. The relief has been examined with Visible Induced Luminescence: Luminescent parts of the background and parts of the hair and face of the bearded man indicate the use of Egyptian Blue.

In 1954 all of the plaster was removed and the relief was washed and cleaned. In August, 1994 a marble sample was extracted for an isotopic analysis.

Description of object

The acroteria and the lower right hand corner are broken off. The upper part of the monument has been broken off along a line through all three persons horizontally, and along another vertical line through the pediment and along the contour of the left side of the old man. These breaks have been mended in plaster.

In a naiskos crowned by a pediment, and flanked by antae three persons are rendered in relief. To the left a young man is standing shaking hands with a seated woman to the right. He wears only a mantle around his chest where it forms a triangular overfold, and over his shoulders. He holds the folds of his mantle with his left hand. On his foot is a boot or a shoe. The seated woman wears a chiton with sleeves to the elbow and a himation around her waist and shoulders. Her hair is curly and combed upwards forming a roll around her head. She sits on a klismos covered with a cushion, and her sandaled feet, the legs crossed, are supported on a foot-stool. In the background an old man is rendered in low relief.

Choice of methods

Visual examination

• Macroscopic

Technical imaging

• VIL

Marble identification method

• Isotopic analysis: Results: d13C, 4,154 - d18O, -7,011. Resembles the Pentelicon area or Sardis.

Technical imaging

VIL: The relief has been examined with VIL: Luminescent parts of the background and parts of the hair and face of the bearded man indicate the use of Egyptian Blue.

Bibliography

F. Poulsen (1951), Catalogue of Ancient Sculpture in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, cat. no. 227a.

M. Moltesen (1995), Catalogue. Greece in the Classical Period. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, cat. no. 33.

C. Brøns & M. Papadopoulou (2018), True Colours: Polychromy in Ancient Greek Art and its Dissemination in Museum Collections, in M. Godýn, B. Groborz & A. Kwiatkowska-Lubańska, Colour Culture Science, Kraków, 63-68.