Beschreibung:

Property from an English Private CollectionA Marble Shrine with Relief Decoration attributed to Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)with quadrangular base adorned with a ram's head at each corner and scrolling acanthus along the concave sides; the shrine itself in the form of a funerary altar carved on one side with an arched shallow recess engraved with a quote from Cicero reading Honos est praemium virtutis ("Honour is the reward of virtue"), and on the other with a deep curved recess fitted for display of a bust or statuette, both niches flanked by two tapering Corinthian colonnettes each supporting a delicate tripod; one short side of the altar ornamented with a couchant ram(?) beneath a hanging set of Pan pipes against crossed horns, the other with a wreathed lyre above a coiled serpent; the cornice with multiple mouldings supporting two rotuli linked by volutes centring a palmette, a shallow recess on top.124.5 by 76.5 and 63.5 cm.