Carving in Sardonyx Agate (a red banded stone), depicting a man (who is, according to Carafa, “dedicated to magical studies”) sitting on a column, while to his right stands a skeleton, holding in each of his hands a patera, a bowl used for pouring libations.
Featured on PDR in the collection Curiosities from the Museum of Giovanni Carafa (1778)
These fantastic depictions of various Roman antiquities are sourced from Alcuni monumenti del Museo Carrafa (1778), a wonderful catalogue of objects once found in the private museum of 18th-century antiquities collector Giovanni Carafa, the Duke of Noja (now called Noicattaro, a town near Bari in southern Italy ). Born in 1715, Carafa studied grammar and literature but soon developed an interest in scientific subjects, mainly mathematics. Around 1738 he was appointed lecturer of Optics and Mathematics at the University of Naples, and there he continued to explore his interests in the natural sciences, especially geology and mineralogy. He soon began collecting archaeological and numismatic pieces concerning southern Italy and established a small museum (which would become part of the collection of Museo di Capodimonte in…
Also appearing in the collection…
Carving in Sardonyx Agate of a man and a skeleton holding libation bowls.
Artist
Date
1778
From
Alcuni monumenti del Museo Carrafa
Source
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