Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: The Museum Year 2009
The Year
Acquisitions
Art of the Ancient World: July 2008–June 2009
Eight wagon attachments
2nd–3rd century A.D.
Bronze and silver
Classification: Tools & equipment
Culture: Roman
Period: Imperial Period
Accession number: 2008.654.1-8
Description: Eight wagon attachments: one circular attachment with a hexagonal knob; two hexagonal knobs; two possible hitches; and three hollow cylinders. The piece illustrated here is decorated with four silver appliqués: a nude male figure carrying two vessels atop the hexagonal knob; and three images of Mars distributed around the circular portion below. Two bronze links are attached.
Provenance/Ownership History: By date unknown: Spanish private collection; 1938: acquired by the Benzaquen family, Gibraltar, thence by descent to I. S. Benzaquen, P.O. Box 428, 295 Main Street, Gibraltar; 1988: sold by I. S. Benzaquen to a German private collection; 2002: acquired from a German private collection by Torkom Demirjian, Ariadne Galleries, Inc., 970 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10021, January 25, 2002; 2005-2008: lent by Torkom Demirjian to MFA (as L-G 91.1.2005); 2008: gift of Torkom Demirjian to MFA, September 17, 2008
Gift of Torkom Demirjian in honor of John J. Herrmann, Jr., Curator of Classical Art, 1976–2004