66¹⁄₂ in. (168.9 cm.) high

with Donati, Arte Classica, Lugano.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 1969.

K. Alexander and M. Greuel, Private Taste in Ancient Rome: Selections from Chicago Collections, Chicago, 1990, no. 25.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Private Taste in Ancient Rome: Selections from Chicago Collections, 3 March-16 September 1990.

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Lot Essay

The thin foliate shaft, perhaps a thymiaterion, is set on a black ground between yellow and red panels and recalls the decorative scheme of the House of M. Lucretius Fronto at Pompeii, a paragon of the second phase of the Third Style of Roman wall painting (see fig. 60 in R. Ling, Roman Painting). As Ling explains (op. cit., pp. 57-58), “The use of yellow, unfashionable in the early Third Style, became increasingly popular. At the same time ornamental detail grew more complex, with a marked tendency to the proliferation of leafy tendrils and similar vegetal motifs, and hints of perspectival recession crept back into the wall.”