Sarcophagus
Roman
Ca. 275
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan before 1913.
Deirdre Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts
At the center of the lawn outside the Thaw Gallery sits a Roman sarcophagus, which dates to the third century, during the time of the Roman Empire. This lenos, or tub-shaped, sarcophagus is decorated with S-shaped grooves that resemble a strigil, the curved metal blade used by athletes to scrape dirt and oil from their bodies. The ends of the stone container feature lions attacking their prey, a popular motif for funerary art. Roman sarcophagi would have been placed inside a mausoleum, with the undecorated back against the wall.
In 1912, Pierpont Morgan engaged Beatrix Jones (later Beatrix Farrand), to design a garden for the space behind his home and library. The garden featured antiquities positioned on the lawn and as focal points along pathways. Todd Longstaffe-Gowan has reprised the spirit of the earlier garden, embedding several antique marble sculptures acquired by Morgan among the pebbled paths and on the lawn.