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Marble fragment of an anta (pilaster) capital from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis

ca. early 3rd century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 160
The crowning molding is badly damaged, but beneath it is a better preserved egg-and-dart molding surmounting a bead and reel motif. The corner egg is embellished with an anthemion (floral-form ornament). The elaborate treatment of this detail corresponds to that of the eggs on the front of the Ionic capital of the Sardis Column (26.59.1), with which this anta capital was likely paired in the inner porch of the temple. Beneath the bead and reel molding the elaborate decoration continued with a lesbian leaf motif, another bead and reel and a frieze of acanthus wreaths (see drawing). Along with the column, displayed nearby, these anta fragments are among the few surviving ornaments from the original Hellenistic decoration of the temple.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Marble fragment of an anta (pilaster) capital from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis
  • Period: Hellenistic
  • Date: ca. early 3rd century BCE
  • Culture: Greek
  • Medium: Marble
  • Dimensions: 26.59.12A: 22 × 24 × 55 in., 1800 lb. (55.9 × 61 × 139.7 cm, 816.5 kg)
    26.59.12B: 22 × 16 × 63 in., 1500 lb. (55.9 × 40.6 × 160 cm, 680.4 kg)
  • Classification: Stone Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Gift of the American Society for the Excavation of Sardis, 1926
  • Object Number: 26.59.12a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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