Table support with Orpheus (00001)
Exhibition room: I.1 Old forms-New symbols
Date: 4th c.
Dimensions (cm): 110X50
The table support was found in Aegina. Set on a square base and fronting the actual support is a sculptural group with the seated Orpheus playing a lyre, surrounded by real and mythical animals and birds. The decoration of the support has been tentatively interpreted in the light of the religious relativism of Late Antiquity. Similar carved supports have been found in other parts of the Mediterranean, and this one is thought to be the product of a workshop somewhere in Asia Minor.