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Grave stele
Greek
Late Classical or Early Hellenistic Period
about 325–320 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Marble from Mount Pentelikon near Athens
Dimensions
Overall: 78.74 x 55.56 x 13.02 cm (31 x 21 7/8 x 5 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Classical Department Exchange Fund
Accession Number1979.510
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
Catalogue Raisonné
Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), no. 008.
DescriptionA small female figure wearing a chiton with long sleeves and hair draped in a cloth holds a small opened box near a larger seated female, carved in very high relief. The seated figure, shown in three-quarters view, wears a high belted chiton over which is draped a himation around her lower body and across her left shoulder. She sits on a cushioned stool and leans back against the remains of a pilaster with her left arm supporting her weight. Her right hand grasps at an object inside the opened box. Her hair is arranged in melon waves and is adorned with a braid on the back of the head. The standing figure gazes towards the seated figure, who in turn looks down at the box. In contrast to the drapery of the standing female, the folds of drapery worn by the seated figure are deeply carved. The draped right shoulder of another figure is visible between the two female figures.
Condition: The lower legs of the figures, the lower parts of the stool, the middle of the right arm of the seated figure, and most of the central figure are missing on this marble relief. If compared to similar grave steles of this period, the stele was crowned by a missing pediment and a frieze, which would have contained an inscription that identified the figures. Yellow patina.
Condition: The lower legs of the figures, the lower parts of the stool, the middle of the right arm of the seated figure, and most of the central figure are missing on this marble relief. If compared to similar grave steles of this period, the stele was crowned by a missing pediment and a frieze, which would have contained an inscription that identified the figures. Yellow patina.
ProvenanceBy 1923: Ernest Brummer Collection and Brummer Gallery, New York; by 1979: with Galerie Koller AG, Rämistrasse 8, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland in collaboration with Spink & Son, Schifflände 12, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland (auction of the Ernest Brummer Collection, Grand Hotel Dolder, Zurich, Oct. 16-19, lot 615); purchased by MFA from Galerie Koller on November 14, 1979