This fragmentary grave marker features a nude youth in profile and a decorative palmette that were painted on the flat surface of the stone, rather than incised or carved in relief. The figure appears against a dark background with details of the body outlined in a lighter color, creating an effect comparable to red-figure vase painting. Alternating colors emphasize the petals of the palmette. An inscription on the base identifies the deceased as Antigenes and the person who erected the monument as Panaisches. A painted stele was a less expensive alternative to a grave marker with both sculptural and painted decoration.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Enhanced ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence images of capital (left) and shaft (right)
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Enhanced ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence images of capital (left) and shaft (right)
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Marble grave stele of Antigenes
Period:Archaic
Date:end of the 6th century BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Marble, Hymettian (base)
Dimensions:Other (height reconstructed): 88 1/2 x 25 x 20 in. (224.8 x 63.5 x 50.8 cm)
Classification:Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1915
Accession Number:15.167
Inscription: On the base with the name of Antigenes
From Attica
Until 1915, collection of Edward Perry Warren, Lewes House, Lewes, West Sussex, UK; acquired in 1915, purchased from E.P. Warren.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1916. "Department of Classical Art Accessions of 1915." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 11(6): pp. 124–25, fig. 1.
Metzger, Henri. 1951. Les représentations dans la céramique attique du IVe siècle. p. 133, fig. 44, Paris: E. de Boccard.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 50, 195, pl. 35e, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1954. Catalogue of Greek Sculptures. no. 20, pp. 16–17, pl. 22a, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1961. The Archaic Gravestones of Attica. no. 61, pp. 44–45, figs. 147, 188, 210, London: Phaidon Press.
Reuterswärd, Patrik. 1980. Studien zur Polychromie der Plastik. p. 48, n. 86, Stockholm: Bokförlaget Svenska.
Bodel, John P. and Stephen Tracy. 1997. Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the USA : A Checklist. p. 183, Rome: American Academy in Rome.
Cook, Brian. 1998[1987]. Greek Inscriptions. p. 39, fig. 30, London: Trustees of the British Museum.
Keesling, Catherine M. 1999. "Endoios's Painting from the Themistoklean Wall: A Reconstruction." Hesperia, 68(4): p. 522 n. 51.
Lazzarini, Lorenzo and Dr. Clemente Marconi. 2014. "A New Analysis of Major Greek Sculptures in the Metropolitan Museum: Petrological and Stylistic." Metropolitan Museum Journal, 49: pp. 127–28, fig. 29.
Zanker, Paul. 2022. Afterlives : Ancient Greek Funerary Monuments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 8, pp. 42–43, New York: Scala Publishers.
Williams, Dyfri, Kenneth Lapatin, Nicholaus Dietrich, Judith M. Barringer, Francois Lissarrague, and Edinburgh University Press. 2022. Images at the Crossroads : Media and Meaning in Greek Art, Judith M. Barringer and Francois Lissarrague, eds. pp. 311, 312, 315, 317, fig. 14.2, Edinburgh.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
