Fragment of a table leg

Created: Roman

Material, technology: marble, h: 35,5 cm, w: 5,5 cm

Description: The upper edge of this upper right quarter of a table leg (trapezophorum) is intact, while the three other edges are broken. At the top a flat, narrow strip runs all the way around horizontally. Beneath an inclined plane leads to the background of the slab upon which one can see the wing from a half-length portrait in relief of a mythological creature (probably a sphinx or perhaps a griffin. The head, breast and leg are missing. Originally a similar depiction was carved on the left side of the stone slab symmetrical with the right. The rectangular marble table top (cartibulum) was placed on the upper layer. The table may have stood originally in a building of worship or in the atrium of a wealthy home, next to the impluvium basin underneath the open roof, and probably housed the family’s silverware.