From: Forum of Trajan, Rome
RA Collection: Art
On free display in The Dorfman Architecture Court
The cast is of a soffit panel, which is the underside of an architectural structure such as an arch or architrave. The architraves of the porticos of the Forum of Augustus and the Forum of Trajan both feature soffits of this type.
The cast was probably part of the collection of Thomas Lawrence which went on sale in May of 1830 and was purchased by the Royal Academy. That sales catalogue has an entry for 'ornament from the Forum of Trajan' and no equivalent or applicable entry for the Forum of Augustus.
210 mm x 410 mm x 70 mm, Weight: 4.3 kg