Strigil Patterned Vase Antonine

Marble finish; strigilated, or scaped, S-shaped reliefs carved across the body; serpentine handles symbolizing guardianship over sacred spaces; design dating back to the Antonine period, with its original function still uncertain, possibly funerary. Historic provenance: the design takes its inspiration from a marble vase with handles formed of intertwined serpents (2nd half of the 2nd century A.D.) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Roman original is recognized as one of the finest and best-preserved examples of these vessels with strigilated reliefs. The serpents, with their mouths seemingly biting the rim, were associated with funerals as well as chthonian, or underworld, powers, and were regarded by the Greeks and Romans as guardians of sacred places and houses.