Marble sarcophagus fragment ca. A.D. 190-210 Roman This fragment can be recognized from other intact examples as part of a sarcophagus on which the portrait bust of the deceased is displayed in a central tondo. The hand and arm of a figure, probably a Cupid, is preserved to the right of the tondo. The person commemorated here was an elderly woman; she wears her hair in a style favored by members of the Severan dynasty, in particular Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus, and Plautilla, wife of Caracalla. Although sarcophagi were mass-produced, the distinctive features of the woman's portrait make it clear that this particular sarcophagus must have been purchased and then prepared for a specific customer.. Marble sarcophagus fragment 252946 Roman, Marble sarcophagus fragment, ca. A.D. 190210, Marble, Overall: 8 1/4 x 8 1/4 x 1 1/4in. (21 x 21 x 3.2cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Fletcher Fund, 1927 (27.122.31)