Marble Relief with Head of Meleager

Culture: Roman

Period: 2nd century A.D.

Material: Marble

Dimensions: 20.5 cm x 18 cm

Price: Sold

Ref: 3251

Provenance: Private collection H., Paris, acquired in the 1950s. Since then in a family estate. Accompanied by a French antiquities passport.

Condition: Fragment

Description: Finely worked marble relief, possibly once part of a sarcophagus. Depicted is the Greek hero Meleager in profile, who killed the Calydonian boar with his spear. The hero with curly hair, filet and thin whisker standing to the left, leaning onto his spear. The fragment is part of a scene, which can be found on a sarcophagus with the Meleager myth in Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome. Meleager, leaning on his lance, is standing opposite Atalanta with a hunting dog, mourning the boar fur. Between the two protagonists a bearded hunting servant, who seems to mediate. For illustration see Paul Zanker, Björn Christian Ewald "Mit Mythen leben – die Bilderwelt der römischen Sarkophage", Munich 2004. Mounted.