Plomin Tablet - The Relief

The Relief

The relief shows a beardless male figure, clad in short tunic by his knees, tightened at the hips. Costume is Antique, Roman. This was the clothes of slaves, laborers and peasants. Frontal setting of the character with his left arm bended at the elbow in front of the chest, holding some kind of an object, reminding of the pose and the typical gesture of male portraits of Late Antique Roman gravestones stelae, makes the connection of continuity or imitation of this primitive relief to the Late Antique gravestone plastics unambiguous. Although the niche around the figure has been inscribed uncertainly and inconsistently, it points to the impostation of the figure in its own space, typical of plastics of Roman gravestone monuments. General naturalistic tendency also points to Antique as a starting point, which is manifested through the impotence of the artist's expression, especially in the details—the "scully" type of beardless head and the rudiments of the ear shell and barely marked hair.