Inv. Scu 29

This krater represents an exceptional case in the production of Roman Egyptianizing works of art: on the one hand in fact, depictions and content are typically Egyptian; on the other, shape and decoration refer to more proper Hellenistic models.

The crater in grey granite, set on a high foot, is decorated with a bas-relief carved above flutings adorning the lower part of the vase. The composition is articulated into two similar scenes divided by the drapes hanging from the felines’ heads carved just beneath the rim.

On one section of the vase, two male figures are seated to either side of an obelisk. The figure to right, wearing a nemes combined with the double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt, grasps a bird and a snake; the solar disc is carved above. In front of him are two hawks wearing the same crown. The figure to left, also crowned with a nemes surmounted by the Uraeus, has two hawks in his lap; the moon is carved above. The figure raises its right hand holding the ankh (the symbol of life) toward two hawks.

The other section of the vase depicts two male figures again seated to either side of an obelisk. The figure to right, crowned with a nemes, is giving to drink to an ibis; the figure to left raises two unidentified items toward a bearded figure grasping a trident and the ankh.

It has been hypothesized that the personages depicted here are not just simple worshipers making an offering, but rather the Emperor Hadrian and his young lover Antinous; this identification dates the crater to the early 2nd AD and is backed up by the fact that the vase was found in the Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli.