Roman
A Roman terracotta Campana relief of a marine thiasos, Roman Imperial, circa 1st century AD
Terracotta
Length: 52.7 cm; height: 20.3 cm
Further images
Moulded in relief with the central figure of a Nereid riding a bridled dolphin, her head turned back to look at an erote frolicking in the waves and holding up...
Moulded in relief with the central figure of a Nereid riding a bridled dolphin, her head turned back to look at an erote frolicking in the waves and holding up an unguentarium, Triton behind, balancing on his sinuous tail, holding a large casket in his right hand and an erote in his left arm, another bridled dolphin and erote in front.
Provenance
Hubertus and Renate Wald Collection, Germany, acquired from Wilhelm Henrich, Frankfurt, February 1962Hubertus Wald (1913 - 2005), a philanthropic collector from Hamburg, Germany, put together one of the great collections of 20th century art in continental Europe. Amongst Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism, and Surrealism, Wald also collected Ancient Art.
Literature
Marine thiasoi are scenes of the sea god Poseidon depicted in a triumphal wedding procession with Amphitrite, generally attended by figures such as sea nymphs and hippocamps. Often Amphitrite or other Nereids would be shown seated on the back of a sea monster, or as in this case, a pair of dolphins. For further discussion of the subject and its origins see S. Lattimore, The Marine Thiasos in Greek Sculpture, University of California, 1976.Known as ‘Campana’ reliefs after the Italian collector Giampietro Campana, who first published such reliefs in 1842, this example would have been a decorative fragment to ornament architecture, and would originally have been painted. From the overhanging upper border / cornice and the perspective of the figural scene it is likely this would have been utilised at the top of a wall.
For discussion and similar see Hermann von Rohden, Hermann Winnefeld, Die antiken Terrakotten: Architektonische Römische Tonreliefs der Kaiserzeit, Berlin und Stuttgart, 1911 pl. CXXXIII, for a related example in the Louvre; pl. LXXXVIII for British Museum, acc. no. 1805,0703.302.