IG II(2) 11630: Large Sepulchral relief of Theogenis, Nikodemos and Nikomache
Modern Publication(s): Michaelis no. 11; IG II 3780; IG II(2) 11630; SEG XXXIII 225; Clairmont, Classical Attic Tombstones 3.343 Conze no. 356.
Brief description: Sepulchral stele
Attributes
Inscription Type: Tombstone
Object Type: Stele
Material: ‘Pentelic’ marble (Michaelis)
Original Location: ‘said to be from the region of Marathon and/or Rhamnous; IG … refers to Grammalito [sic?], to the north of Marathon’ (Clairmont).
Provenance: Athens
Date: Fourth century BC, based upon the style of the relief (Michaelis).
Dimensions: 1.01 m; 0.90 m (Clairmont)
Layout: One line of text of the geison; another line of text on the architrave (Clairmont).
Writing: Inscribed
Condition: Damage to the central akroterion, and the lateral akroteria are only partly preserved; the lower legs of the figures are missing (Clairmont).
Decoration: ‘To the right, Nikomache, draped as usual, unveiled, is sitting to the left, and gives her hand to the beautiful Theogenis standing opposite her, and draped in the same way; her left hand grasps a corner of the cloak near her breast. In the background, between the two females, the bearded Nikodemos stands full face, his breast not covered by the mantle, which falls down from his left shoulder and covers his legs’ (Michaelis).
Collection
Location: Was at Broom Hall (Scotland, Fife), along the walls of the spacious hall (Michaelis). Now at The J. P. Getty Museum.
Collector(s): Lord Elgin.
Date collected: Not known. Michaelis noted that ‘as the marble chair [as well as some other marbles] did not form part of Elgin’s collection offered for sale to the nation in 1816, it may have been brought to Scotland at a later time’. Sold by the Elgin family in the twentieth century (Houser).
Accession or catalogue number: The J. P. Getty Museum, 78.AA.58
Translation
Bibliography
C. W. Clairmont, Classical Attic Tombstones vol. 3 (1993 Akanthus).
A. Conze, Die attischen Grabreliefs (Band I, Text) (Berlin 1893) no. 356.
A. Conze, Die attischen Grabreliefs (Band I, Tafeln) (Berlin 1893) plate 88.
J. Frel, Antiquities in the J. Paul Getty Museum: A Checklist: Sculpture, vol. 2. Greek Portraits and Varia (Malibu, 1979) 43.
J. P. Getty, The Joys of Collecting (1967) 56f.
C. Houser, ‘Is it from the Parthenon?’ AJA 76, No. 2 (1972), 127-137 (131 n. 35).
A. Michaelis, ‘Ancient marbles in Great Britain: Supplement I’, JHS 5 (1884) 143-161, no. 11.
S. Pfisterer-Haas, ‘Ältere Frauen auf attischen Grabdenkmälern’, AM 105 (1990) 179-96 (184 with notes 29-30).
W. R. Valentiner and P. Wescher, The J. Paul Getty Museum Guidebook (Los Angeles 1956) p. 14 no. 6.
C. C. Vermeule, ‘Notes on a new edition of Michaelis: Ancient marbles in Great Britain’, AJA 59 No. 2 (1955), 129-150 (132 s.v. Broom Hall).
Web Links
Image(s)
Pfisterer-Haas plate 32.1.
Conze plate 88
Frel no. 272
