An Ancient Roman Marble Cinerary Urn
Circa 2nd Century AD
Height: 43cm Width: 35cm Depth: 31cm
A carved white marble cinerary urn of rectangular form, the font inscribed with a five line Latin dedication within a recessed panel: DIS MANIBVS. Q. AMVLEI. IANVARI. POSVERVNT. LIBERTI. EIVS (To the spirits of the departed. The freedme of Quintus Amuleius Januarius placed this).
To one side is a relief of a ewer, symbolising purification and ritual use. The urn retains its original proportions and character, with areas of loss and ancient fissure now stabilised.
This piece once formed part of the distinguished antiquities collection at Rossie Priory, the Scottish seat of the Lords Kinnaird. The inscription is recorded in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, enabling its reidentification as an object from that collection. Presumably acquired shortly after the 1948 Sotheby's sale of items from Rossie Priory, it passed to the artist Edward Irvine Halliday CBE and has remained with his descendants.
Included are prior black and white photographs thought to date from the 1950s, showing Halliday and his family with the urn in their garden at St John's Wood, London.
With thanks to the Reverend Professor Martin Henig for his assistance in confirming the provanence.
Height: 43cm Width: 35cm Depth: 31cm
A carved white marble cinerary urn of rectangular form, the font inscribed with a five line Latin dedication within a recessed panel: DIS MANIBVS. Q. AMVLEI. IANVARI. POSVERVNT. LIBERTI. EIVS (To the spirits of the departed. The freedme of Quintus Amuleius Januarius placed this).
To one side is a relief of a ewer, symbolising purification and ritual use. The urn retains its original proportions and character, with areas of loss and ancient fissure now stabilised.
This piece once formed part of the distinguished antiquities collection at Rossie Priory, the Scottish seat of the Lords Kinnaird. The inscription is recorded in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, enabling its reidentification as an object from that collection. Presumably acquired shortly after the 1948 Sotheby's sale of items from Rossie Priory, it passed to the artist Edward Irvine Halliday CBE and has remained with his descendants.
Included are prior black and white photographs thought to date from the 1950s, showing Halliday and his family with the urn in their garden at St John's Wood, London.
With thanks to the Reverend Professor Martin Henig for his assistance in confirming the provanence.
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