Last year I had the opportunity to visit the beautiful
Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City Missouri. If you ever get a chance,
it is well worth the visit. Besides displaying famous artists like Monet, they
have a modest collection of ancient artifacts, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman. One
item in particular is a third century (ca. 240-260 C.E.) Roman marble sarcophagus
that is quite striking for its detailed frescos. It is described as a “Muse Sarcophagus.” The museum description reads.
“The deceased, who stands in the center of this high relief, is flanked by five
Muses to her right and Minerva with four Muses to her left. The Muses with
their customary attributes appear in the following order (from viewer's left to
right): Clio, Muse of history, with a scroll; Euterpe, Muse of music, with two
flutes; Thalia, Muse of comedy, with shepherd's crook and mask of comedy;
Melpomene, Muse of tragedy, with a club and mask of tragedy; Terpsichore, Muse
of choral dance, with a lyre; Polyhymnia, Muse of hymns and religious dance;
Erato, Muse of lyric and erotic poetry, with a cithara; Urania, Muse of
astronomy, with a globe and staff; Calliope, Muse of heroic and epic poetry,
with a stylus and tablet. The deceased holds a scroll, and Minerva, a spear.
All the figures are standing. A striding griffin appears on each end of the
sarcophagus and the back is plain.”
The provenance is given as “Excavated in the Vigna Casali,
Rome, 1872.”
When I entered the room where the item was poised, I
immediately noticed the stylus and tablet of the figure on the far right corner
of the sarcophagus. In the close up images, the edges of the wax tablet are
clearly seen. The flat spoon used for smoothing out the wax can be seen
opposite the sharp pointed writing edge of the stylus. There also appears to be
an ear extending out on the top edge of the tablet that has what looks to be a hole
in the center, giving the appearance of a modern clip-board. Perhaps this was
used for a lanyard that either allowed the user to carry the tablet, or to tie the
boards closed (or perhaps to hang on the wall, see Herculaneum fresco below).
The far left corner represents the muse of history and she
is shown holding an open bookroll. The hand clutches the rolled up portion of the volume
that would have contained the text already read while the opposite portion of
the book would have contained the unread text. What was intriguing about this
particular fresco is that it depicts the unread portion of the roll curving
back behind the book rather than curving inside towards the user (for
example, as shown in the famous Herculaneum painted fresco of a boy holding an
open bookroll below). It appears that the book is open to the final portion and
the last bit of the roll is folded behind the roll and clasped with the fingers
behind the rolled up portion of the volume (see my crudely drawn reconstruction
below). The right arm of the history muse is broken off but it may be that the orginal figure had a pen in this hand. The strange way that the roll is being help open would allow for the freedom of the right hand for writing. Just as the poetry muse is writing in the wax tablet in the opposite corner, it may be that the history muse is being portrayed as writing in an open bookroll.
The other aspect of these two figures is the representation of a book and a tablet. It is fascinating that the poetry muse holds the wax tablet, a device that is easily edited and rewritten, while the history muse is holding a roll, an object that carries its own image of refinement, permanence, and legacy (see Pliny's comments here).
The roman woman herself is depicted in the center of the sarcophagus holding a bookroll in her left hand. I noticed that next to her right foot, what looks to be a bookcase with the muse
of choral dance (holding a lyre) resting her left foot on the lid. Though the diameter is small, it matches other depictions of book boxes from the roman period (see Herculaneum fresco below).
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art is definitely worth a visit, be sure to give this fascinating sarcophagus a look!
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| Close up detail of muse with wax tablet |
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| Muse with wax tablet on right corner of sarcophagus |
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| The muse of history holding an open bookroll |
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| Close-up detail of muse of history bookroll |
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| Muse of history holding a bookroll |
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| Muse of choral dance with foot on book case (?) |
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| Fresco from Herculaneum showing a youth holding an open bookroll |
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| Fresco from Herculaneum portraying an open book case |
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| Fresco from Herculaneum depicting an ink pot, pen, bookroll with name tag, open wax tablet and stylus, and tablet hanging from nail. Notice the far right tablet that has an ear with hole in the top edge similar to that portrayed on the muse sarcophagus. |
