Sarcophagus lid panel

Sarcophagus lid panel, showing the return from the hunt. Parts of the same lid are the long panel 59.148.244, the two pediments 59.148.307. 4 and 5 and the two corner masks (59.148.307.2 amd 59.148.307.3). The action for the part of the relief starts from the left with a man emerging out of archgate of brickwork. He wears boots and an exomis and urges two yoked oxen forward with a strout staff. The oxen pulls a heavy two wheeled plaustrum with big wheels. The plaustrum is laden with the spoils of the hunt: a boar, two bears, an ibex, nets and net supports. Alongside the beasts a figure hurries back to the viewer's left, his cloak fluttering from urgent movement. Ahead of the oxcart are two barefoot men one wearing an exomis and clean shaven, the other dressed in tunic and bearded. They both hold forked props and seem to carry a very heavy net which is bundled and tied with cords and slung over their shoulders. Such a net was common in ancient times for capturing wild beasts in mountains and forests. The drill work for the net is deep. Between these men a dog sniffs at the lingering smell of the net. The middle of the relief has a bearded man with boots and clad in tunic plus sagum. He holds two hunting spears in his left hand and leads a mule from whose saddle dangles a brace of dead hares. In the rest of the frieze there is the conveyance of the game with the four bearers wearing exactly the same outfit of an exomis and boots. They carry sticks used during the hunt as poles for supporting the nets. Two men -one bearded, the other cleanshaven rest a long pole on their shoulders. The pole has the the body of an antelope. The hound that walks in between them sniffs the trail of blood. There is a similar group of men before this one, but they carry a large bear, strapped with sturdy stars onto the pole, beneath her corpse another dog pads forwards. There is a part of the frieze on the right that is missing. Blundell paid £13 for the piece.