| Collection: | Paris, Musée du Louvre |
| Title: | Stele of Sosinos |
| Findspot: | Said to be from Athens (Piraeus?) |
| Summary: | Sosinos seated with objects of his profession |
| Object Function: | Funerary |
| Material: | Marble |
| Sculpture Type: | Stele, relief-decorated |
| Category: | Single monument |
| Style: | High Classical |
| Technique: | Low relief |
| Original or Copy: | Original |
| Date: | ca. 410 BC - ca. 375 BC |
| Dimensions: | H. 0.955 m; W. 0.62 m; D. 0.13 m |
| Scale: | Under life-size |
| Region: | Attica |
| Period: | High Classical |
Subject Description: Sosinos, the deceased, sits facing right but turned slightly toward the viewer. He is a mature man, with curly hair and a beard. He wears a himation and boots. The short inscription states that he was a copper smelter from Gortyn. Around him are objects associated with his profession. The staff-like object in his left hand is probably a tool, perhaps a poker. The round objects have been interpreted both as ingots and as bellows (in which case the roughened surface within the rim is seen as leather). The flat objects on the ground may be part of the bellows. The representation is thus highly personal and must have been specially commissioned. The longer inscription, in elegiac verse, says that the memorial was erected by his children and honors his justice, good sense and virtue. The frame of the relief is treated as a fully developed naiskos with antae, a lintel, an eave, and antefixes. Sosinos sits in front of it. The back of the chair, his himation, right arm and right foot overlap the front of the stelae.
Form & Style:
The stele is framed by antae supporting an architrave below a roof sima, decorated with seven antefixes.
Date Description: Suggested dates have ranged from the late 5th century through the first quarter of the 4th century. Clairmont argued most recently for a later date, i.e. ca. 380 to 375 BC, but Daux, Stupperich and Vierneisel-Schlörb have challenged that assessment and support a date around 400 BC or slightly earlier
Condition: Intact
Condition Description: Complete in the main. Minimal damage to the surface, especially the edges of the stele.
Material Description: Pentelic marble (Hamiaux)
Inscription:
On the geison:
Inscription Bibliography: IG II / III (2) 8464
Collection History: Attic, according to a manuscript of Fauvel, cited by Conze. Earlier in the collection of Fauvel. Purchased in 1817 (along with other reliefs), for the Musée Royale (which later became the Louvre), by Count Forbin, who was in Greece in 1817-1818, then Director General of the Museum
Sources Used:
Other Bibliography: