A Roman marble sarcophagus fragment representing Autumn
Circa late 3rd Century A.D.
From a Season sarcophagus, preserving a chubby male child holding a hare by its back legs in his upraised right hand, the end of a cornucopia in his left, nude but for a mantle drawn around his shoulders and wearing a wreath over his deeply-drilled luscious curling hair, his fleshy face with dimpled chin, articulated eyes and lips slightly parted, a column to the left, the upper border of the sarcophagus preserved above, 61cm high注脚Provenance:
Reinhold Hofstätter (1927-2013) collection, Vienna, acquired in the 1980s.
with Rudolf Mahringer, Vienna, 2018.

The seasons were popular motifs on sarcophagi, particularly during the 3rd Century A.D., as 'symbols of immortality and rebirth' (A. McCann, Roman Sarcophagi in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1978, p. 136). The inclusion of the cornucopia and depiction of the youth as returning from the hunt is consistent with iconography often representing the season Autumn. For a similar fragmentary sarcophagus depicting Autumn and Summer, see the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acc. no. 58.584.