Eros Atop a Dolphin

Datec. 3rd century A.D.

GeographyRome, Italy

MediumStone tesserae

Dimensions36 5/8 x 32 1/4 in. (93 x 81.9 cm)

ClassificationsCeremonial & Ritual Objects

Credit LineGift of the Honorable Clare Boothe Luce, 1983 (5110.1)

Object number5110.1

DescriptionBoy on dolphin. Colored stone tesserae mounted in cement block. The young Taras (son of poseidon later founder of the first Iapygian settlement in Tarentum) is shown with locks flowing in a stream, naked, astride on a dolphin using a string of pearls as reins looped around the dolphins mouth. The fragment has an inscription AITI upper left, a fat fish lower left, a squid lower right and another under-sea creature jutting out of the right side. The tesserae used for the boy are in flesh tones, the under-sea world is of curving black stones, the fish have pale yellow gray and pale green stones.

On View

On view

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