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Source Description
Carved in relief are two plump Erotes sitting on rocks: one leans over his shoulder to open the lid of a large box; the other, wings spread on either side, sits and watches. A pillar or stele between them supports an urn with a conical lid and two projections on the sides that are intended to be griffin heads. The small cylindrical container is missing its base and cover. This pyxis is typologically related to a group of pyxides excavated at Pompeii and Herculaneum. They were found mainly in houses and retained traces of paint used for women's cosmetics. Little decorateive boxes must have been popular objects of everyday use since they have been found all over the Mediterranean world. The modeling of the figures on the Walters pyxis, with its rounded forms and detailed presentation of wings, faces, etc., is different from the Pompeiian examples and suggests another workshop, perhaps one in Egypt, as the provenance of this pyxis indicates.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
33212
label
Pyxis with Erotes
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
33212
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Pyxis with Erotes
description
Carved in relief are two plump Erotes sitting on rocks: one leans over his shoulder to open the lid of a large box; the other, wings spread on either side, sits and watches. A pillar or stele between them supports an urn with a conical lid and two projections on the sides that are intended to be griffin heads. The small cylindrical container is missing its base and cover. This pyxis is typologically related to a group of pyxides excavated at Pompeii and Herculaneum. They were found mainly in houses and retained traces of paint used for women's cosmetics. Little decorateive boxes must have been popular objects of everyday use since they have been found all over the Mediterranean world. The modeling of the figures on the Walters pyxis, with its rounded forms and detailed presentation of wings, faces, etc., is different from the Pompeiian examples and suggests another workshop, perhaps one in Egypt, as the provenance of this pyxis indicates.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1st century (Roman Imperial)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
pyxides
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
4.1
height
3.7
dimensionsRaw
H: 1 5/8 x W: 1 7/16 in. (4.1 x 3.7 cm)
Source extras
cul
Roman
med
bone
creator_ids
6191
collection_ids
ROM
exhibition_ids
215
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
297e654e303cd085
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
4889d23288d7e24c
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no