Fresco Fragment with Cupids and Psyche Making Perfume

One of a pair of Roman fresco panels that were originally part of the same wall (see also 72.AG.82). Both frescoes depict scenes of Cupids and Psyche (Cupid’s beloved) engaging in everyday activities–a popular humorous subject in Roman art, especially wall painting. In this panel, a group of Cupids tend a perfume shop. On the left, two Cupids mix perfume in a large white bowl. Behind them, a cupboard holds jars containing either perfume ingredients or the finished product. At the right, a third Cupid holds an alabastron (flask), while a seated Psyche holds up her arm to smell the fragrance.

This fresco fragment was part of a larger scheme of painted decoration for a wall in a wealthy home. The painting style, categorized by scholars as Fourth Style, is the last style of Roman wall painting, and combines the spatial vistas of the Second Style with the fantastic architecture of the Third Style. It was popular from approximately 63 B.C. until A.D. 79, when Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed. The houses excavated at those sites show that a panel like this one would have been a minor element of the wall's decoration, subsidiary to a large panel with a mythological or architectural motif.