Flame Palmette Finial for a Funerary Stele in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, June 2018

Flame-Palmette Finial for a Funerary Stele

Unknown (Artist)

Date: mid-4th century BC

Culture: Greek (Attic)

Category: Sculpture

Medium: marble

Collection: Ancient Art

Geography: Attica, Greece

Dimensions: Overall: 29 × 18 1/2 × 4 1/2 in. (73.66 × 46.99 × 11.43 cm)

Object Number: 79.148


This style of the palmette became common in Athenian funerary art in the 4th century. The lower part of the stele (pillar) was decorated with a depiction of a loutophoros (a vessel used for water in wedding and funerary rituals), only the top of which survives. The inscription was carved freehand using letter forms typical of the mid-4th century.


Additional Information 

Inscription: Inscribed: Philoneios of Prosopalta

Credit Line: Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund


Published References:

Mayo, Margaret Ellen, and Heather S. Russell. Ancient Art: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1998. (pp. 58-59)


Text from: www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-12954197