Ink-pot with Marcus Aurelius

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Bronze sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 16

Inventory

PV 09266

Material and technique

Bronze, black lacquer

Author

Severo da Ravenna and studio

Dating

16th century

Dimensions

23x13.6x17 cm.

Origin

Barsanti Collection (1934)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

Pollak and Santangelo attributed this work to a Paduan workshop of the late 15th century, while Patrick de Winter believes it to be by the studio of Severo da Ravenna. The bronze is of high quality and bears all the characteristics of Severo’s work, as seen in the typical “worm-like” hair and beard of Marcus Aurelius. The cornucopia, which the emperor holds in left hand, serves as the pen-holder; it was a frequent feature in inkwells that are decorated with equestrian groups from the Capitoline. The undoubted similarity of the workmanship in the cornucopia with the version in the Museo di Ravenna indicates that both bronzes were produced in the same studio. The shell that serves as the ink-pot is a real shell.

Pietro Cannata

Bibliography

L. Pollak, Raccolta Alfredo Barsanti (Trecento-Settecento), Bergamo 1922, no. 39 p. 56; A. Santangelo, Museo di Palazzo Venezia. La Collezione Auriti, Rome 1964, p. 37; L. Martini in H. Beck - P. C. Bol, Natur und Antike in der Renaissance,  exh. cat., Frankfurt am Main 1985, no. 6 p. 7; P. de Winter, Recent Acquisition of Italian Renaissance Decorative Arts. Part I: Incorporating Notes on the Sculptor Severo da Ravenna, in “Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art”, LXXXIII, 3, 1986, pp. 101-102, fig. 62.