Roman

At the time this piece was made, cremation was the favored form of burial for all Roman social classes. Marble cinerary urns with carved decoration were quite popular in the first century AD as containers for the ashes of the deceased. This urn takes the form of a miniature temple decorated with vegetal motifs and implements used for the burial ritual, such as a bowl for a liquid offering (patera) and a funerary wreath. The Latin inscription reads: “To the Shades of the Dead. Anotonia Saturnina made [commissioned] this for her husband Delicatus, imperial slave, and Marcus Anotninus his son made it for his well-deserving father.”