94 - FUNERARY STELE DEPICTING A YOUNG BOY

FUNERARY STELE DEPICTING A YOUNG BOY Limestone Max. height: 59 cm; width: 34 cm Roman art, Province of North Africa, 2nd–3rd century A.D. A naiskos-shaped relief depicting a young boy standing face-on, with short curly hair, wearing a tunic and a draped cloak. One hand is resting on his chest. The other hand, on the right, holds a quadrangular box with vertical grooves and lets a small vase with a ribbed body hang from its handle. The niche is framed by two smooth columns with stylized Corinthian capitals supporting an entablature with a frieze of pilasters embellished with trepan holes; on the pediment, a male mask whose mustache extends into broad leaves, flanked in the spandrels by two flying Eros figures, each holding an elongated motif, perhaps a garland. Provenance Former French collection, assembled between the 1930s and 1950s. Passed down through the family. Accompanied by a consignment document from the antique dealer Ramié, Cannes, dated April 11, 1995. A Roman limestone funerary aedicula with a young boy A naiskos-shaped relief depicting a young boy standing frontally, with short curly hair, wearing a tunic and a draped mantle. One hand is raised to the chest. The other, on the right, holds a rectangular casket with vertical grooves and a small ribbed vessel hanging by its handle. The niche is framed by two plain columns with stylized Corinthian capitals supporting an entablature featuring a drilled running-wave frieze; the pediment bears a male mask whose mustache ends in broad leaves, flanked in the spandrels by two flying Erotes, each holding an elongated motif, possibly a garland.