Roman Marble Ornamental Cinerary Urn

The finely decorated body of the vessel is carved in delicate shallow relief. The shoulder is decorated with garlanded ox skulls (bucrania); the main body is carved in two registers separated by a beaded relief border. The upper areas with floral motifs, palmettes, and confronting cranes either side of fruit laden altars; the lower with radiating tongues. The two separately carved handles depict horned and bearded satyr heads. The foot is fluted at the waist above a decorated panel. The strigilated lid is surmounted by floral decorations and a finial.

h. 48 x w. 40cm

1st century AD

Marble

Provenance

Discovered in 1760 in Tenuta Santa Maria di Galera (Rome) a property belonging to the German College in Rome (the Vatican’s Collegio Germanico), When discovered, the vase contained a lamp, a gold chain, some ivory hairpins and cremated bones.
Collection of Sir Francis Dickins (c.1750 – 1833), He probably purchased it on his Grand Tour (1772-1773)
Collection of Sir Sydney Barratt (1898-1975), Summerhill (Staffordshire) and later installed at Crowe Hall (Bath, Avon), 1961, Sir Sydney Barratt, a distinguished chemist, industrialist and connoisseur, acquired the urn for ‘Summerhill’, a Georgian country house in Staffordshire. There his collection included Renaissance paintings as well as many exquisite bronzes and ceramic pieces. Later his collecting attentions turned to 18th century painting, furniture and antiques and by the time he moved to one of Bath’s finest Regency villas, Crowe Hall.
Thence by descent to John Barratt (1975-2010), Sir Sydney Barratt’s son, who lived at Crowe Hall until his death in 2010, preserved the house ‘as if in a time-capsule’. However, at some stage, perhaps after Sir Sydney Barratt’s death in 1975 the urn was adapted for electricity and spent the rest of its life at Crowe Hall in the central hallway with a lampshade over it.
Christie's London, The Baratt Collection, Sale 7821, December 16, 2010, lot 7
Acquired at Rupert Wace Ancient Art Ltd, March 21, 2011

Publications

Giovanni Batiste Piranesi, "Illustrated on a Plate Dedicated to Sir Francis Dickins", Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichi, 1778
J. Wilton –Ely, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Complete Etchings, volume II, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1994, p. 967, fig. 892
Christies London, The Barratt Collection, London, 2010-12-16, lot 7
"Gaudy Lamp Sells for £445,000 After Discovered to be Roman Urn", The Telegraph, January 21, 2011, [on-line] available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8273806/Gaudy-lamp-sells-for-445000-after-discovered-to-be-Roman-urn.html
"Roman Urn Fetches £370,000 After Life as a Lamp", BBC News UK, January 22, 2011, [on-line] available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12258359
"What's a Roman Urn? Around £445,000 - even When it's Been Turned Into a Lamp", Bath Chronicle, January 24, 2011, [on-line] available at: http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/s-roman-urn-s-turned-lamp/story-11340897-detail/story.html
S. Mackenzie, "A Lamp With a Past", Minerva: the International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology, UK, March/April 2011, vol. XXII, p. 3
H. Mallalieu, "The Poetry of a Roman Urn", Country Life Magazine, UK, April 13, 2011, p. 86, fig. 1
Sir John Boardman, "Museum Opening of the Year", Apollo magazine, UK, December 1, 2011, p. 59
J. Pollini, "Roman marble sculpture" in M. Merrony (ed.), Mougins Museum of Classical Art, France, 2011, p. 106, fig. 71
J. West, "Travel Outdoors - A Museum in Picasso’s Final Playground on the Hillsides Above the Cote d’Azur adds Culture to the Sunshine", Scotsman Magazine, Scotland, November 17, 2012, p. 32
"Private Collectors – The Lifeblood of the Fair: Christian Levett – a Museum of his Own", Celebrating the Best – 25 Years of TEFAF Maastricht, 2012, pp. 64-65
M. Godfrin-Guidicelli, "J’ai fait un rêve…", Zibeline, France, 23rd May – 20th June 2012, no. 52, p. 60
M. Merrony, Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins. La Collection Famille Levett, 2012, p. 54
Egypte Ancienne, May/June/July 2013, no. 8, p. 67
D. Alberge, "Art for All Collectors Who Want to Public Enjoy their Treasures", Ft Wealth, June 1, 2016, no. 39, p. 25
L. Marotta, "The Medici of Mougins", Force One Magazine, 2017, no. 15, p. 38

Exhibitions

TEFAF, Maastricht, Netherlands, 01/01/2011 — 01/01/2011
Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins (MACM), Mougins, France, from June 2011
Art Adorned: Christie’s x Dolce & Gabbana, Christie’s King Street, London, England, November 22, 2019 — December 3, 2019
Of Gods and Glamour, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA, July 1, 2021 — April 1, 2023

N.B. Our online collection is being continually updated thanks to ongoing research and documentation efforts carried out by The Levett Collection - FAMM documentation team. Any additional information is welcome, please contact us.