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Tomb relief of Petronia Hedone and her son, Lucius Petronius Philemon
Roman
Imperial Period
about A.D. 110–120
Place of Manufacture: Italy, Campania (probably manufactured in)
Medium/Technique
Marble
Dimensions
Height x width x depth at bottom: 56.5 x 49.5 cm x 8.9 (22 1/4 x 19 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number99.348
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
Catalogue Raisonné
Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 354; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 115 (additional published references).
DescriptionThe funerary relief depicts the busts of a Roman matron, Petronia Hedone, and her son, Lucius Petronius Philemon. The busts are placed on a shelf-like projection and situated within a shallow, rounded niche. Both busts include the upper portions of the torso, shoulders, and upper portions of their arms. Petronia is depicted wearing the tunic and stola, which is fastened above each shoulder by knotted strings. Her face shows signs of age with wrinkles on her forehead, crow’s feet, and pronounced naso-labial lines. She has narrow, almond-shaped eyes with thin lids, feathered eyebrows, and a wide mouth with full lips. Her hair is reminiscent of styles preferred by female members of the emperor Trajan’s family. The front portion of her hair is parted in the middle and pulled back behind her head in waves, whereas the back portion is braided and stacked ontop of her head. A corkscrew curl is left free in front of each ear.
Her son is shown as an adolescent, wearing a tunic with a mantle draped over his left shoulder. He too wears a Trajanic hairstyle with a caplike hairstyle that is combed from the crown of the head in long strands that end in comma-shaped locks across his forehead. He has wide, almond-shaped eyes framed by heavier lids than that of his mother, full cheeks and lips, and protruding ears. Both figures have their pupils drilled just below the upper lids.
The panel below the ledge bears the inscription:
PETRONIA·HEDONE·FECIT·SIBI
ET·L·PETRONIO·PHILEMONI·FILIO
ET·LIBERTIS·LIBERTABVSQVAE
POSTERISQVAE·EORVM
“Petronia Hedone made (this monument) for herself
and for L(ucius) Petronius Philemon, her son,
and for her freedmen and her freedwomen
and for their descendants.”
The lettering appears, for the most part, uniform and the spacing is even except for at the rightmost edge where the inscriber encroached on the border framing the text.
The noses of both figures, as well as their upper lips, have been damaged. On Petronia’s face, there are also chips in her chin and her left cheek. The top and back of the slab are smooth while the sides are left slightly rough. There is a small, round hole drilled in the middle of the relief, where the two figures overlap. This was likely to accommodate the insertion of a metal pipe, indicating that the relief was reused in a water feature after antiquity.
Her son is shown as an adolescent, wearing a tunic with a mantle draped over his left shoulder. He too wears a Trajanic hairstyle with a caplike hairstyle that is combed from the crown of the head in long strands that end in comma-shaped locks across his forehead. He has wide, almond-shaped eyes framed by heavier lids than that of his mother, full cheeks and lips, and protruding ears. Both figures have their pupils drilled just below the upper lids.
The panel below the ledge bears the inscription:
PETRONIA·HEDONE·FECIT·SIBI
ET·L·PETRONIO·PHILEMONI·FILIO
ET·LIBERTIS·LIBERTABVSQVAE
POSTERISQVAE·EORVM
“Petronia Hedone made (this monument) for herself
and for L(ucius) Petronius Philemon, her son,
and for her freedmen and her freedwomen
and for their descendants.”
The lettering appears, for the most part, uniform and the spacing is even except for at the rightmost edge where the inscriber encroached on the border framing the text.
The noses of both figures, as well as their upper lips, have been damaged. On Petronia’s face, there are also chips in her chin and her left cheek. The top and back of the slab are smooth while the sides are left slightly rough. There is a small, round hole drilled in the middle of the relief, where the two figures overlap. This was likely to accommodate the insertion of a metal pipe, indicating that the relief was reused in a water feature after antiquity.
ProvenanceBy 1899: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: Bought in Naples 1899.); 1899: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren for $ 32,500.00 (this is the total price for MFA 99.338-99.542)