Cast of lost frieze (?) from Aula Regia mounted over cast of scrolls and flowers

From: Domitian's Palace, Palatine, Rome

RA Collection: Art

This is a composite of two casts. It shows a frieze from the Aula Regia (main hall) of the Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill set above a small decorative frieze. The Aula Regia was excavated in the early 1700s, and many fragments of it were drawn in situ by Piranesi. Some elements were moved to the Farnese collection and others remained in situ.

This particular detail, showing a wing Cupid and a leaping panther set in a framework of scrolling flowers, comes from a frieze that is known in eight recorded fragments. This fragment is now seemingly now lost but was reproduced elsewhere in the early 18oos. The Royal Academy's acquisition of this and others from the Farnese excavations at the Palatine remains unclear.