Marble SarcophagiThis marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's website where this artwork is featured. This marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco’s website where this artwork is featured.

Dating from AD 260-280, this Roman masterpiece was photographed at the M.H. de Young Museum a few years ago.

“This Roman example contains imagery symbolic of both the agricultural seasons and Dionysiac ritual,” according to FAMSF.

Marble SarcophagiThis marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's website where this artwork is featured. The detail in the marble is extraordinary.

“The lively figures sculpted in high relief include youths holding plants and the bounty of the harvest. Standing winged figures (childlike erotes) are carved almost in the round; their cornucopias are free-standing, as are the wings on the two central figures supporting the roundel, which contains a portrait of a noble woman, the deceased,” FAMSF noted.

“Around the sarcophagus, small wingless figures ride and frolic with animals associated with Dionysus, the god of wine, vegetation, and resurrection, and engage in activities that take place in the various seasons. On coffins and other monuments of the late Roman period, figures representing the seasons were popular features, perhaps expressing the transitory and recurring phases of life and the inevitable passage of time.”

Marble SarcophagiThis marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's website where this artwork is featured. Marble SarcophagiThis marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's website where this artwork is featured. Marble SarcophagiThis marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's website where this artwork is featured. Marble SarcophagiThis marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's website where this artwork is featured. Marble SarcophagiThis marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's website where this artwork is featured. Marble SarcophagiThis marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's website where this artwork is featured. Marble SarcophagiThis marble sarcophagi features elaborate figural compositions that were expensive luxuries even in ancient times, according to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco's website where this artwork is featured.