#MuseodellArteSalvata
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anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
For #SarcophagusSaturday we're back one last time at the #MuseodellArteSalvata at the #BathsofDiocletian in #Rome, to see a strange #Etruscan #cinerary #urn or #larnax saved from the clandestine antiquities market by the #Carabinieri. #AncientBluesky 🏺
LARNAX WITH FEMALE FACE, 240-220 BCE. MUSEO DELL'ARTE SALVATA, BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN This third cinerary urn found in an illicit excavation in the locality of S. Donnino outside the Umbrian town of Città della Pieve is much simpler than the other two from the same tomb belonging to the women of the aristocratic Pulfna family. It's a quite simple box in a local tufo whose lid has no effigy of the deceased but is a simple flat slab, on the front of which is a long inscription both incised and painted in red. I can't find a translation of this, but I can make out the name Pulfna on it. The corners of this box are carved like pilasters, and extend below it to make short legs. At centre is a strange female face, carved in an almost childlike way, with bulging eyes, triangular nose, and irregular mouth. She is probably a Medusa, with brown painted hair below an unpainted and jagged crown (?). Two symmetrical S-volutes flank the head, on a painted brown background.
July 26, 2025 at 10:58 AM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#FrescoFriday leads us back to the #MuseodellArteSalvata at the #BathsofDiocletian in #Rome to look at another #fresco fragment of mysterious provenance, full of delightful details. If only we knew where to look for the rest of this splendid room!
FRESCO FRAGMENT, C1 CE. MUSEO DELL'ARTE SALVATA, BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN This beautiful piece of fresco work is of unknown origin, probably Neronian in date. It was handed in to the police by its owner in 2025. Here we have the black space of the wall, carefully pieced back together, divided horizontally by a band of red-framed rectangles with alternating acanthus curls in gold and little scenes with mythological creatures. The central vertical axis is made of a gold candelabrum with more vine curls that enclose a green background (very faded) and then, further up, a red background in a sort of heart shape with the central cornet of the candelabrum dividing it in two. A second cornet blossoms out of the first, and atop it is a grey dove clutching an olive twig that extends to either side, inclining upward, a play on the more usual swag of a garland. Below the central band, on the vertical axis, is a richly-caparisoned head with a vine-leaf crown, perhaps Dionysus.
July 25, 2025 at 11:40 AM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
This beautiful black-grounded #fresco is now on display at the #MuseodellArteSalvata in the #AulaOttagona of the #BathsofDiocletian in #Rome. It dates to around the reign of #Nero and might come from the region of #Pompeii, but we don't know. Illegal #excavations destroy context. #AncientBluesky 🏺
FRESCO FRAGMENT, C1 CE. MUSEO DELL'ARTE SALVATA, BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN This piece of wall fresco was handed in to the Carabinieri by its owner earlier in 2025, an occurrence that is ever more frequent. However, its provenance is unknown. It has a black background. At centre, a grey square turned 45° to make a diamond shape sits at the junction of two decorative bands, like ribbons. The horizontal one is made of a gold-yellow zigzag, and the resulting triangles are filled with stylised evergreens. The vertical band has a dark red background with gold floral decorations, and is attached to the central frame with golden hooks. Above and below the horizontal band are two garlands of olive branches. At the very centre is a face, perhaps a mask, wearing a gold diadem.
July 11, 2025 at 1:06 PM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#ReliefWednesday takes us to the #MuseodellArteSalvata at the #BathsofDiocletian to admire an #amber #relief of a goddess embracing a mortal with lustful intent. The figures' eyes are strangely reminiscent of #Mesopotamian art. #AncientBluesky 🏺
AMBER PLAQUE WITH EOS AND KEPHALOS, C5 BCE. MUSEO DELL'ARTE SALVATA This plaque, which may have decorated a belt or other item of clothing, is unfortunately of unknown provenance, somewhere in southern Italy. It was repatriated in 2023 with the help of the New York District Attorney's Office. On it, we see two figures embracing, a slightly larger female figure at left, who is holding the nude male figure at right, even clutching his raised forward thigh. These lovers have been identified as Eos, goddess of the dawn, who kidnapped the handsome Kephalos despite him already being very much in love with his wife Procris, which explains the aggressive possessiveness of Eos. After many a misadventure, Kephalos and Procris were reunited, but first Kephalos fathered several children on Eos. Love the one you're with!
July 9, 2025 at 8:56 AM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#SarcophagusSaturday takes us to the Octagonal Hall of the #BathsofDiocletian in #Rome, where a fresh catch of repatriated and captured #antiquities has reopened the #MuseodellArteSalvata. The traces of #polychromy on this #Etruscan #cinerary #urn add to the beauty of the work. #AncientBluesky 🏺
LARNAX WITH THE KILLING OF TROILUS, C. 210 BCE. MUSEO DELL'ARTE SALVATA In 2015, news of the discovery of a hypogeum in the territory of Città della Pieve in Umbria, in the agrarian zone of San Donnino, began to filter out, as photos of objects from inside the tomb came to the attention of the Carabinieri. A raid on buildings of the owner of the land in question in April 2024 discovered an astonishingly rich haul: this was the tomb of the women of the powerful gens Pufna. All the grave-robbed property was taken into custody by October 2024. Here the lid shows a reclining woman in painted alabastrine gypsum, with golden jewelry, leaning on her elbow, a patera or offering plate in her other hand, resting on her knee. The box itself shows a violent scene from the Trojan War, the death of Troilus at the hands of Achilles, the one-man murder machine of the Iliad.
July 5, 2025 at 9:01 PM