The Amphora Servant
Herculaneum, Italy, 80 AD (Approx)
White Marble & Pottery, 6m tall
Collection of the Naples National Archaeological Museum

The Amphora Servant is an unfinished Roman marble sculpture recovered during a 2017 excavation of the Villa of the Papyri outside of Herculaneum. Like many examples of Roman marble statutary, it is a replica of a Greek bronze original - in this instance, one of two titanic fountains that supplied water to the Baths of Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom. While replicas of the Eastern fountain, commonly referred to as 'The Water-Bearer' have been uncovered in excavations as far back as the Renaissance, this sculpture remains the only physical evidence of the existence of the Western fountain, having previously been known only through contemporary literary descriptions. Both sculptures are believed to be portraits of Ptolemy XII, one of the last Hellenistic Greek rulers before total absorption of Alexandrian lands by the Roman Empire.

The Villa of the Papyri is one of the most lavish and celebrated residences to have been impacted and subsequently preserved by the Vesuvius eruption in 79. While most famous for the libraries of carbonized papyrus scrolls from which it derives it's name, the Villa was also opulently decorated with elaborate fresco paintings and a wealth of statuary. The extensiveness of the collection spoke to its owners' unfathomable wealth and a sweeping interest in arts and culture - dozens of uncovered pieces include busts of historical figures and philosophers, mythological scenes, animal statuary, and erotic groupings. It's also abundantly clear that the Villa was very much an active site for these artistic pursuits - it is commonly believed that the namesake library was the personal study for the philosopher Philodemus of Gadara, and the Amphora Servant was discovered in what was clearly a resident artisan's workshop. The unfinished state of the sculpture remains a harrowing and sobering testament to the cataclysmic immediacy of the eruption of Vesuvius.

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A companion commission for an earlier piece, drawn by  Bra1nEater.