08-15-2017, 11:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-15-2017, 06:21 PM by Ross Cowan.)
(08-14-2017, 12:17 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote: It looks to me rather like a cinerary urn. With a hole in the front... so you can see who's inside??
Could it be that the 'urn' contained an imago of the dead man - which for some reason was being carried into battle? Or maybe a purely symbolic representation, as the man (or emperor?) whose imago would have been on the standard is now dead?
Yes, it looks like an urn. It is interesting to consider that, if the sarcophagus had been finished (the general is faceless - so presumably a speculative piece by the workshop), a v. small imago (deity, of emperor served, or a famous ancestor), or another symbolic object, might have been placed inside the 'standard', but it'd be rather difficult to see. (For a similar 'house on a stick', compare the staff carried by Nantosuelta - scroll down for images.)
I suspect the Portonaccio sculptors did intend an imago-type military standard, or some triumphal symbol (e.g. like the models of catpured towns and fortresses carried in triumphal processions).
Cheers,
R!