Ash Chest Lid

59.148.240b

Information

Lid of ash chest of Claudia Queita and Claudius Plolus. The lid was represented in the Monumentae Matthaeiana on the ash chest of Phlapfiphus and shown unrestored. It was restored and then placed on the ash chest of Claudia Queita but it is rather wide for it. The lid is flat with a central roundel and corner acroteria standing up at the front. There is a series of fields along the front, the other surfaces are not decorated. The central roundel has a decorated with a wreath and the acroteria are decorated with palmettes. The fields in between have a small bird walking away from the wreath and a plant design consisting of a flower on a leafy stalk which is almost an extension of the palmette. There is fascia moulding running along the upper and lower edges of the front. The lid is unusual in style and design and may be entirely modern. It would however been made and broken before the Mattheina plates.