Amphora of cotognino alabaster

roman school

These two amphorae are shaped like large cups, with broad bodies, horizontal shoulders, thick handles and lids with spherical knobs; they both rest on round moulded bases. They were made from two blocks of ‘cotognino’ alabaster with different veining, which the sculptor skilfully used to exalt the aesthetic and formal effects of the two objects. The identity of the artist is still unknown, given that we do not have documentation concerning the commission of the two works and that we are not able to identify them with certainty in our historical bibliographical sources. Some critics have proposed dating them to the 17th century on stylistic grounds; yet it is evident that the sculptor drew inspiration from ancient models that were common in the imperial era.

Object details

Commentary

The two amphorae in ‘cotognino’ alabaster rest on rounded bases. Their bodies are shaped like large cups with horizontal shoulders that merge into a short, moulded neck, which in turn culminates in an everted rim. The symmetrical handles are attached to the body and rise above the shoulders. The lid shows cyma recta moulding and culminates in a spherical knob.

Such rounded forms – with broad bellies, large handles and lids – were characteristic of numerous vases of the imperial era. Often they were made in alabaster or porphyry and used as funeral urns; the unknown sculptor of our amphorae may well have drawn inspiration from these models.

The two objects are not identifiable with certainty in any of the historic Borghese inventories. They first appear in the 1833 Inventario Fidecommissario, which placed them in the Ceres Room (today’s Room 1). On the basis of stylistic considerations, Faldi dated the two vases to the 17th century and ascribed them to a sculptor active in Rome, without proposing a specific name in light of a lack of documentation (1954, p. 19, cat. 16). Coliva likewise suggested the 1600s as the period of their execution and proposed an attribution to Silvio Calci or another contemporary marble sculptor who worked for the Borghese family (1994, pp. 316-17).

The artist in question was undoubtedly specialised in the working of precious materials, skilfully making use of the two blocks of ‘cotognino’ – or oriental – alabaster made available for the project. Quarried in Egypt, the stone is characterised by a ground that ranges from white to honey yellow, covered by either concentric, roughly circular, partially overlapping spots or thin, sinuous streaks. Both these forms of veining are present on these two vases, which the sculptor has exalted by perfectly adapting them to the forms of the amphorae, such that they constitute their principal decorative motif.

Sonja Felici