SILVERMEDALLIONS.South Italian, Third Centuryb.c. Two of a knownset of six, these roundelsprobablywere emblemataset into the bottomsof plates. The heads of Medusaand Hermesstill havetouchesof gilding.The enclosingband of wavepatternwas a devicepopular in SouthItalian vasepainting,coin designsandother decorativeobjects. The report that the medallionswere found in Tarentum strengthensthe suggestion that they are the work of a South Italian metalsmith.Diameter2% inches.Purchased in 1951with a fund givenin memoryof Mr. and Mrs. Allan Marquand. MARBLERELIEFOF POET. Roman Copy of Greek Original. This relief of a dramatic poet, identifiedas Menander,was formerlyin the Stroganoffcollectionand is a well known piece.Certainof the restorationswere removedbeforethe relief cameto Princetonbut others still remain:the poet's nose and top of his head, the chair legs and the table stretchers.The most recentdiscussionof the plaqueis by MargareteBieber,in the FestschriftAndreasRumpf. She equatesthe masks with charactersin Menander' s The Samian Girl and considersthe relief a copy of a third centuryb.c. original.Height 19V2inches.Museumpurchase,1951 (The CarolineG. MatherFund). 241