A Roman Marble Relief Fragment, Middle Antonine, circa A.D. 170

from the front panel of an Amazonomachy sarcophagus, carved in high relief with an Amazon, her fragmentary right arm reaching upwards, her left raised to grasp the hand of a warrior clutching her helmet, and wearing a belted chiton fastened on her left shoulder and leaving her right breast bare, her pelta(?) on the ground to her left, the warrior holding a large circular shield in his left hand, a chlamys draped over his left arm.

probably Church of S.S. Cosma e Damiano, Rome, by 1491
probably the Belvedere Courtyard of the Vatican, 17th century
SVV Landes Encheres EURL, Dax, France, November 17th, 2013

probably F. Matz and and F.K. von Duhn, Antike bildwerke in Rom, mit Ausschluss der grösseren Sammlungen, vol. 2, Leipzig, 1881, no. 2221
probably Carl Robert, Die Antiken Sarkophag-reliefs, vol. 2: mythologische Cyklen, Rome, 1890, no. 79, pl. XXXIII, pp. 96- 98
probably Dagmar Grassinger, Die mythologischen Sarkophage: Achill bis Amazonen, Berlin, 1999, pp. 239-240, no. 100, pl. 90.4 (with more earlier references)

As shown. Scattered chips, abrasions, and losses.
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The dramatic scene represented on this fragment is the focal point of the front panel of an Amazonomachy sarcophagus identical to, if not one and the same with, a complete example first recorded circa 1491 in the forecourt of the basilica of S.S. Cosma e Damiano in the Roman Forum. Pirro Ligorio (circa 1510-1583) saw it and recorded it there between 1550 and 1553 (Pirro Ligorio, De’ luoghi delle sepulture delle fameglie romane e degli huomini inlustri, Cod. Neap.XIII B. 10, p. 1085, no. 1, published by H. Dessau, Römische Reliefs, beschrieben von Pirro Ligorio, Berlin, 1883).

During Ligorio’s lifetime, the sarcophagus was moved to the Belvedere Courtyard at the Vatican and its lid entered the collection of the sculptor Guglielmo della Porta. It was later acquired by Charles Townley in 1744 and is now preserved in the British Museum (mus. no. 1805,0703.135).

Sometime in the 17th Century the sarcophagus was broken into several fragments, two of which are preserved at the Museo Chiaramonti (inv. nos. 1735 and 1737; Grassinger, op. cit., cat. no. 100, pl. nos. 96.5 and 96.6; http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/record.php?record=38207 and http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/record.php?record=38198), and another at the Palazzo Salviati (Grassinger, op. cit., cat. no. 100, pl. no. 96.3; http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/record.php?record=38200).

Carl Robert illustrates four known drawings of the sarcophagus in its complete state, including one spread out to include the front and short sides as a continuous panel, but in fact there are at least eight more (Rotterdam, Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, inv. no. I-520,v; Ashmolean Museum, inv. no. 0062; Jacopo Ripanda, Sketchbook, fol. 32v at the Ashmolean Museum; Florence, Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe degli Uffizi, inv. no. 1495 E; Christie's, London, October 14th, 1958, no. 88; Florence, Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe degli Uffizi, Horne coll., inv. no. 5943; Amico Aspertini, Sketchbook I, fol. 19v-20r at the British Museum; Bartsch XVI.325.51). The most detailed and finished visual rendering is preserved in the late 16th century drawing from the “Museo Cartaceo” of Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588-1657) (Windsor I, Fol. 4 (152); Robert, op. cit., pl. XXXIII, no. 79'''). The other renderings vary in their accuracy and were not necessarily made after the original object. 

It is possible that this fragment comes from an otherwise unrecorded sarcophagus closely related to the one shown in these drawings, but it is more likely that they are one and the same; the present fragment is of the same date, style, and scale as the sarcophagus recorded in the drawings and the known remaining fragments. All other known Amazonomachy sarcophagi showing a warrior with a shield grabbing the head of an Amazon employ a different style and arrangement of the figures (e.g. Grassinger, op. cit., cat. nos. 101 and 105).

The composition of this central motif bears notable similarities to the reliefs of the Nereid Monument from Xanthos, now in the British Museum, particularly those of the greater podium frieze which depict isolated battle scenes, though none involve Amazons or form any apparent narrative (e.g. mus. no. 1848, 1020.40; A. Stewart, Greek Sculpture, an Exploration, New Haven and London, 1990, pp. 171-172, no. 474, fig. 468).