Rare Lot Of 9 Antique Carved Roman Marble Fragments

Lot of 9 white marble fragments with excavation patina from ancient Roman monuments, including an element with acanthus leaf decoration (probably from a capital), several cornice fragments two facing elements and miscellaneous.

Italy, Ancient Roman art, 1st-2nd century AD.C.

Fragments ranging in size from 5 to around 20 centimetres in length.

Provenance: Collected near the Via Appia in the early 20th century by a family stationed at the Roman Embassy.

This type of set is rare on the market. It recalls the collections of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century lovers of archaeological relics, following in the footsteps of illustrious collectors and antiquarians such as the Comte de Caylus, who considered fragments to be just as interesting as the once-privileged statuary. It was in this sense that he wrote in his letters in 1758:

"I always beg you to remember that I am not making a cabinet, that vanity not being my object, I do not care for pieces of pomp, but that rags of agate, stone, bronze, earth, glass, which can serve in any way to find a use or the passage of an author, are the object of my desires. I'm not making a cabinet, I'm making a course in antiquity, and I'm looking for usages, what proves them, practices, what demonstrates them."

The diversity of the fragments we present makes this collection not only highly decorative and coherent, but also an essential source of information on the marble architectures that once adorned the capital of the Empire.