Abstract

Jesienią 1998 r. Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie wzbogaciło się o nowy, monumentalny sarkofag rzymski,1 stosunkowo rzadko spotykany nawet wśród światowych i najdroższych zakupów antykwarycznych (Fig. 1a).2 Znacznie wzbogacił on nieliczny, ale ważny ze względów naukowych zbiór tego typu zabytków w Polsce.3 Sarkofag został zakupiony od właściciela, Pana A. Krawczyka dzięki środkom wyłożonym na ten cel przez EuRoPol GAZ S.A., przedsiębiorstwo mające duże zasługi w ochronie dziedzictwa kulturowego.4 Transakcja doszła do skutku nie bez wpływu i zaangażowania Pana L. Wąsa, antykwariusza z Bielsko-Białej.<br>A STRIGILLI SARCOPHAGUS ACQUIRED RECENTLY BY THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN WARSAW. The article is a detailed presentation of a strigilli sarcophagus, decorated with figures of the deceased - husband and wife. A short version of this article in Italian was presented during a conference organized in Marburg in 2001 and is to be published in the conference proceedings. The sarcophagus, bought on the antiquarian market in 1998, had probably belonged before the Second World War to one of the German art collections in Silesia (perhaps the collection of the Schöneich family from Carolath near Nowa Sola (Neusalz). The authors of the article deal with the symbolic meaning of the representation (basing on iconography, and especially on a detailed analysis of the costumes of the married couple), as well as with problems concerning the dating of the sarcophagus (proposed basing on a stylistic and iconographical analysis). As it has been attempted to prove, the object dates to the years ca. 270 AD, and can be connected with members of the upper class (perhaps a Roman senator and his wife).