A ROMAN MARBLE FUNERARY ALTAR INSCRIBED FOR JULIA LYRIS, 1ST CENTURY A.D. | A Roman Marble Funerary Altar inscribed for Julia Lyris

of quadrangular form finely carved on four sides, the front carved in relief with a mask of Medusa beneath a Latin inscription in three lines reading C(aius) Iulius Postumi l(ibertus) Eucomus / Iuliae Postumi l(ibertae) Lyridi f(iliae) et / Faustillae matri eius (Caius Iulius Eucomus, freedman of Postumus, dedicated this to his daughter Julia Lyris, freedwoman of Postumus, and to his mother Faustilla), a krater surmounted by birds perched on the handles on the left side, a phiale mesomphalos on the right side, an oenochoe on the back, the motifs linked by richly carved deeply undercut garlands suspended from bucrania on the corners, guilloche, tongues, and bead-and-reel around the base, a dentil and lesbian kymation around the cornice.

Agostino Andrea Chigi (1466-1520), Villa Farnesina, Trastevere, Rome
Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi (1500-1564), Rome, at his villa on the Quirinal
Eva Rhodes (1943-2008), Stradbroke, Suffolk, recorded with her in an undated photograph by Richard Vaughan Williams (1923-2015), one time Keeper of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum (http://www.edr-edr.it/edr_programmi/view_img.php?id_nr=161494&lang=it, from the Archives of Prof. Silvio Panciera at the Sapienza Università di Roma)
probably Robin Symes, Ltd., London
American private collection, probably acquired from the above (Sotheby's, New York, December 14th, 1994, no. 149, illus.)
acquired at the above sale by James Francis Scott (1936-2017), Charlottesville, Virginia

Mariangelo Accorsio, autograph manuscript, between 1517-1521, Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, Milan, D 420, fol. 66: "In aedibus Augustini Chisii", the source for Muratori 1740
Martin van Heemskerck, drawing, between 1532-1536 (Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, inv. no. 79 D 2, publ. Hübner 1912, Hülsen-Egger 1913, and  http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=1080354&viewType=detailView), showing the altar in a garden alongside other marbles, including, in front of it, a torso of a kneeling amazon later recorded as fully restored in the Savelli Collection in Rome and now at Wilton House (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/23013)
Ulisse Aldroandi, Tutte le statue antiche, che in Roma in diversi luoghi, e case particolari si veggono, in Lucio Mauro, Le antichità della città di Roma, Venice, 1556, p. 301 (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilder/3394311)
Martinus Smetius (Martin Smet), Inscriptionum antiquarum quae passim per Europam liber, Leiden, 1588, fol. 115, no. 2 (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilder/3025842)
Jean-Jacques Boissard, Pars Romanae Urbis Topographiae & Antiquitatum, vol. III: Topographia Romanae Urbis, vol. IV, Frankfurt, 1597, pl. 64 (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilder/3367431): "In Quirinali. In area domus Carpensium hortorum. Sub statua Serapis", based on Boissard's own original drawings from circa 1559 (http://census.bbaw.de/easydb/censusID=55493 and http://census.bbaw.de/easydb/censusID=55492)
Jacob van Sandrart, L' Academia Todesca della architectura, scultura & pittura oder Teutsche Academie der edlen Bau-, Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste, vol. 2,2: Von der Scvltura oder Bildereykvnst, 1679, part 2, p. 17, pl. SS (http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/sandrart1679b/0059/image) as the base for an Egyptian block statue, probably the "Canopo" mentioned by Aldroandi and the "Serapis" by Boissard and http://ta.sandrart.net/en/purl/text-893), and now in the Louvre, inv. no. A92 (N93) (O. Perdu, Statues privées de la fin de l’Égypte pharaonique (1070 av. J.-.C – 300 apr. J.-C.), vol. I, 2011, pp. 118-127)
Jan Gruter, Inscriptiones antiquae totius orbis romani, vol. II, Amsterdam, 1707, p. 980, no. 4 (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilder/3551391)
Bernard de Montfaucon, L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures, vol. 5,1, Paris, 1719, pl. 85 (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilder/3044376), engraving after Boissard
Lodovico Antonio Muratori, Novus Thesaurus veterum inscriptionum, 1740, p. 1586, no. 6 (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilder/3730792), after Accorsio' notes
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vol. VI, part 3, Berlin, 1886, no. 19969 (http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/marbilder/4188157)
Paul Gustav Hübner, Le statue di Roma: Grundlagen für eine Geschichte der antiken Monumente in der Renaissance, vol. 1, 1912, pl. 7
Ch. Hülsen and H. Egger, Die römischen Skizzenbücher von Marten van Heemskerk im Königlichen Kupferstichkabinett zu Berlin, vol. 1, Berlin, 1913, pl. 48, fol. 47r
Ch. Hülsen, Römische Antikengärten des XVI. Jahrhunderts, Heidelberg, 1917, p. 60, no. 35
Dietrich Boschung, Antike Grabaltäre aus den Nekropolen Roms, Bern, 1987, p. 96, no. 641; p. 61, no. I 37, pl. 15 (Montfaucon engraving)
Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture known in the Renaissance, no. 157600 (http://census.bbaw.de/easydb/censusID=157600)

There is a carefully excavated circular cavity on top where the ashes were originally placed. When in use this cavity would have been entirely hidden underneath the now missing gabled lid. The altar is repaired from two large fragments. The break line runs from the upper left corner on the front/inscribed side down diagonally across the garland, around the corner on the right, then horizontally across the lower part of the garland on the patera side, around the corner on the right underneath the bucranion, then up the oenochoe side straight up across the top and through the central cavity. There are small areas of painted fill along the break line. Stable stress cracks are visible on all sides, one across the patera side, one above the oenochoe, and two above the krater. Minor chips, abrasions, and slight wear overall, all consistent with age and time spent outside. Object was cleaned up since it was photographed outside Eva Rhodes's house in Stradbroke.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."