IX.14.4 Pompeii. House of M. Obellius Firmus or Casa di MM. Obellii Firmi, pater et filius

or Casa del Conte di Torino.

Linked to IX.14.2 and IX.14.b. Excavated 1888, 1903, 1910.

 

Part:       1        2        3        4        5        6        7        8        9         Plan (Separate window)

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. North side of atrium B and the long fauces 28 of entrance IX.14.2.

Photographed 1970-79 by Günther Einhorn, picture courtesy of his son Ralf Einhorn.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007. Looking north-east to atrium B of IX.14.4 from upper level.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007.

Looking south-east over peristyle 1 to garden 2 from upper level. Room 3 is on the right.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007.

Looking south over restored upper storey towards IX.14.c.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007.

Looking south-west across unexcavated area from the upper level.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007. Looking north along the upper level.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007.

Looking south along corridor towards peristyle 1, with doorway to kitchen, room 18, on right.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007. Doorway to room 18, the kitchen, looking west.

According to NdS, a plaster cast was made of the wooden double-leaf door dividing the kitchen / praefurnium from the corridor.

The plaster cast was to be left in situ, to make the visit to the house more interesting for visitors!

See Notizie degli Scavi, 1911, (p.216)

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007.

Room 18, hearth or large podium against north wall in spacious kitchen.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007. Room 18, looking north at hearth in kitchen.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007. Looking west across room 18, kitchen.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007. Room 18, kitchen on west side of corridor.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007. South-west corner of room 18, kitchen.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007. South wall of kitchen, with painted niche.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. 1911. Lararium in kitchen 18 at the time of excavation.

 

IX.14.4 Pompeii. December 2007. Arched niche set in painted aedicula, on south wall of kitchen 18.

According to Boyce, a rectangular space was enclosed within a simple painted aedicula of slender columns supporting a pediment.

The pediment represents red marble with insets of green in the centre and at each lower corner.

The inside walls of the arched niche are thickly covered with spots of yellow, green and red.

On the rear wall is a figure, which the report in Not.Scavi called Fortuna, but which certainly represents the Genius.

He holds cornucopia in his left hand and a patera in his right. There is no altar.

In the spaces at the sides, and below the niche but still within the painted aedicula were the following painted figures –

On each side of the niche was a Lar. Above each Lar was a garland with a bird perched on it.

Below the level of the niche was, on the right, a hog advancing to the left, and on the left was a banqueting scene with six persons upon a triclinium, three men and three women.

Immediately below the niche was a single serpent gliding right amongst the plants.

Between the entrance doorway to the room ad this Lararium was painted a figure of Hercules with the club upon his shoulder.

The whole painting is very crudely executed.

Not. Scavi, 1911, 214, with photo p.217

See Boyce G. K., 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii. Rome: MAAR 14. (p.31, no.68 & Pl.13, 2)

See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern. (L111, T. 48,1).

 

 

 

Part:       1        2        3        4        5        6        7        8        9         Plan (Separate window)