Studies of Sculptural Fragments from the Vatican Museums, Including a Statue of Pello, Part of a Relief from a Child’s Sarcophagus, a Statuette Group of Mars and Venus, and a Statuette of Bes

a.
Cecilia Powell has identified the sketch in the top left-hand corner as depicting the statue of Pello, which stands on top of the funerary altar of Mithrasia Severa in the Museo Chiaramonti.1 A sketch of the altar can be found on the previous page, see folio 32 (D15164; Turner Bequest CLXXX 31). The sculpture also features within a sheet of antiquities drawn by James Hakewill (1778–1843) in 1817 (British School at Rome Library).2
b.
Powell has identified the sketch in the top right-hand corner as a fragment from a child’s sarcophagus,3 also from the Museo Chiaramonti.4
c.
Powell has identified the sketch on the left-hand side of the central row as a pediment and part of a decorative relief from the Museo Chiaramonti.5
d.
Powell has identified the sketch in the centre of the page as a statuette group of Mars and Venus from the Museo Chiaramonti.6
e.
Powell has identified the sketch on the right-hand side of the central row as a statuette of Bes from the Museo Chiaramonti.7 Until 1899, this statue stood on a shelf in between the objects represented in previous two sketches (c and d). It can now be found in the Museo Egiziano (Egyptian Museum).
f.
Powell had identified the sketch as the bottom of the page as a Mithras relief from the Museo Chiaramonti.8 Mithraism was a mystery or cult religion practised across the Roman empire and relating to the Persian god, Mithras. The artist has annotated the drawing ‘644’ in the top right-hand corner, which presumably relates to an exhibit number displayed on the work. However, it does not appear to correspond to any known lists published within contemporary guide books or catalogues of the Vatican collections.