To continue our 'At Home with Ancient Art' campaign, today I present to you one of my very favourite images. Though the pieces we offer are sometimes to be marvelled at, researched in depth, and appreciated in isolation, one must not forget that they can live with us in a harmonious, uncomplicated state and be enjoyed for their aesthetic qualities as much as anything else. It could be argued that it is this integration and luxury of living every day in their presence and that gives them a new vitality which, in turn, enhance our own lives and domestic enviroments.
I have always found fragments to be incredibly evocative, encapsulating all that excites me about the ancient world. One can focus on the skill of the craftsman, or a simple piece of imagery, and be sucked into an incomplete world for just a moment, where the identity of an object can never be truly certain. Most people think of antiquities as being in museums, but what a quiet thrill one gets when they are the last thing you see as your head hits the pillow and you turn out the light.
Roman terracotta architectural relief fragment
1st century AD
Height 13.8cm, width 22.3cm, depth 8.2cm
Provenance: Private collection, Belgium; acquired mid to late 20th Century
Reputedly from Messina, Sicily
