The embodied object: Recensions of the dead on Roman sarcophagi
The Roman sarcophagus uses the visual forms of consolatory celebration to frame the actual body of the deceased. Its rhetorics of eulogy are not merely performative but are directly existential, since its form and function are entirely dependent on the act of containing a corpse. In sarcophagi, the...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Wiley
2018
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| _version_ | 1826291513817038848 |
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| author | Elsner, J |
| author_facet | Elsner, J |
| author_sort | Elsner, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The Roman sarcophagus uses the visual forms of consolatory celebration to frame the actual body of the deceased. Its rhetorics of eulogy are not merely performative but are directly existential, since its form and function are entirely dependent on the act of containing a corpse. In sarcophagi, the frequency of portraiture as a major element of decoration adds a further frisson to the question of embodiment. This essay touches on all forms of portraiture on Roman sarcophagi but focuses on three-dimensional reclining statues carved on lids – both fine finished portrait heads and so-called ‘unfinished’ or ‘blank’ and sometimes ‘pseudo-animate’ faces – in relation to their play with the thematic of embodiment, presence and absence. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:00:31Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:b0d0bfa1-5538-4095-815b-818880af78d3 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:00:31Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:b0d0bfa1-5538-4095-815b-818880af78d32022-03-27T03:59:09ZThe embodied object: Recensions of the dead on Roman sarcophagiJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b0d0bfa1-5538-4095-815b-818880af78d3Symplectic Elements at OxfordWiley2018Elsner, JThe Roman sarcophagus uses the visual forms of consolatory celebration to frame the actual body of the deceased. Its rhetorics of eulogy are not merely performative but are directly existential, since its form and function are entirely dependent on the act of containing a corpse. In sarcophagi, the frequency of portraiture as a major element of decoration adds a further frisson to the question of embodiment. This essay touches on all forms of portraiture on Roman sarcophagi but focuses on three-dimensional reclining statues carved on lids – both fine finished portrait heads and so-called ‘unfinished’ or ‘blank’ and sometimes ‘pseudo-animate’ faces – in relation to their play with the thematic of embodiment, presence and absence. |
| spellingShingle | Elsner, J The embodied object: Recensions of the dead on Roman sarcophagi |
| title | The embodied object: Recensions of the dead on Roman sarcophagi |
| title_full | The embodied object: Recensions of the dead on Roman sarcophagi |
| title_fullStr | The embodied object: Recensions of the dead on Roman sarcophagi |
| title_full_unstemmed | The embodied object: Recensions of the dead on Roman sarcophagi |
| title_short | The embodied object: Recensions of the dead on Roman sarcophagi |
| title_sort | embodied object recensions of the dead on roman sarcophagi |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT elsnerj theembodiedobjectrecensionsofthedeadonromansarcophagi AT elsnerj embodiedobjectrecensionsofthedeadonromansarcophagi |