IG II(2) 11630: 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: ‘From the village of Grammatikon in northeast Attica.’ (Burnett Grossman)
Provenance: Athens
Date: Fourth century BC, based upon the style of the relief (Michaelis).
Dimensions: 1.01 m; 0.90 m (Clairmont)
Layout: One name inscribed on the geison; three names inscribed on the architrave (Clairmont). The ‘[n]ame Nikomache was carved by a hand different from the one that carved the other three names, and its placement on the geison of the pediment points to a later addition.’ (Burnett Grossman)
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). ‘The left hands of Theognis and Nikodemos are carved in an usual manner and their placement is unique, as is that of the aryballos. In addition, the face of Nikomache is wide and appears unfinished in the area that attaches the background of the naiskos. Those unusual details are probably due to a re-carving of the figures of the stone.’ (Burnett Grossman)
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 formerly 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
Nikomache.
Theognis Nikodemos son of Polyllos.
Bibliography
J. Burnett Grossman, Greek Funerary Sculpture: Catalogue of the Collections at the Getty Villa (Los Angeles 2001) no. 9.
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)
Burnett Grossman pp. 30-31.
Conze plate 88
Frel no. 272
Pfisterer-Haas plate 32.1.
