VIII.2.28 Pompeii. Casa del Ninfeo or House with Nymphaeum.

Excavated 1886, 1928.

Part 2      Part 1

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. Found on 8th July 1758. Wall painting of an arched pier adorned with statues.

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 9484.

See Pagano, M. and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli. Naples:

Nicola Longobardi. (p.27) 

See Fiorelli G., 1860. Pompeianarum antiquitatum historia, Vol. 1: 1748 - 1818, Naples, 1, 77.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. Found on 27th October 1758. Wall painting of a ship with a square sail crossing the harbour of a port.

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 9460.

See Pagano, M. and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli. Naples:

Nicola Longobardi. (p.28) 

See Fiorelli G., 1860. Pompeianarum antiquitatum historia, Vol. 1: 1748 - 1818, Naples, add., 138-139.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. Found on 27th October 1758. Wall painting of landscape with buildings next to a river with fishermen on the rocks.

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 9470.

See Pagano, M. and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli. Naples:

Nicola Longobardi. (p.28) 

See Fiorelli G., 1860. Pompeianarum antiquitatum historia, Vol. 1: 1748 - 1818, Naples, add., 138-139.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Corridor behind Nymphaeum.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Corridor behind Nymphaeum.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Looking south into vestibule of triclinium with nymphaeum.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Nymphaeum in triclinium decorated as a grotto.

According to Richardson, the fountain room had a barrel vault and the floor and walls would have been largely veneered with marble.

The water entered by a staircase through a deep vaulted niche and fell into a narrow basin that extended across the width of the room.

The nymphaeum was enriched by painting, mosaic and veneering.

See Richardson, L., 1988. Pompeii: An Architectural History. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. (p.231-2).

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Nymphaeum.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Painting and mosaic on nymphaeum.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Nymphaeum.

According to Richardson –

“the water entered by a water stair in a deep vaulted niche and fell into a narrow basin that extended across the width of the room.

The front wall of the narrow basin was broken into niches, rather like a theatre stage.”

See Richardson, L., 1988. Pompeii: An Architectural History. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. (p.231-2).

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Water stair of nymphaeum.

On either side of the water source were small windows or recesses that may have served for special lighting effects.

See Richardson, L., 1988. Pompeii: An Architectural History. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. (p.231-2).

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Front of narrow water basin with niche of nymphaeum.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Narrow water basin at front of water stair of nymphaeum.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. Blocked stairs ascending from vestibule of triclinium with nymphaeum.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. South wall with large window.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. Two engravings of paintings found in this room.

See Antichità di Ercolano: Tomo Setto: Le Pitture 5, 1779, p.305, Tav. LXVIII.

According to Pagano and Prisciandaro – found 26^th August 1758 -

(Note 132 – almost certainly provenanced from the same room was the “fight between five pygmies, three are crowned, one holds a rod, and two have a circular weapon collar”).  (““lotta tra cinque pigmei, tre sono coronati, uno regge un’asta, due hanno un cerchio ad arma collo”).

See Pagano, M. and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli. Naples: Nicola Longobardi, (p.28).

According to PAH -

“A room was discovered with collapsed roof, it was garnished with Sarno stone with much work of pieces of pumice? in the centre there was a niche with a masonry fountain, garnished with a mosaic of many colours that had been drained by the ancients (che era stata drizzata dagli antichi): there were two bands of mosaic in many colours, the first of a palm and two on, by three and eight (0.31m x 0.97m).

Four paintings were discovered in front of the fountain:

(Not cut) – of a landscape with two trees, the sea with two boats, one being rowed by four men, one lying down, one playing the harp, under the boat was an animal similar to a crocodile.

(Not cut) – another, with a man on a tree with something in his right hand, which seems to pull an animal.

Another which shows a nude man with a stick around his neck with many things attached to it, four others are eating, one drinking from a water bottle under a tent, two women dressed in mantles are near a tree.  (NAP 9090, 9100). AdE VII, 68, 305, see above.

(Not cut) – of a landscape, showing a tower and two trees, a duck, a person with a stick in their hand.

The room was adorned with marble, which had already been stripped by the ancients.”

See Fiorelli G., 1860. Pompeianarum antiquitatum historia, Vol. 1: 1748 - 1818, Naples, 1, 78, (26th August 1758) and Addendum 138.

VIII.2.28 Pompeii. May 2006. View of rear.

Rear of VIII.2.26 and VIII.2.28, Pompeii, centre left. April 2019. Looking north. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.

Rear of VIII.2.26 Pompeii, left, VIII.2.28, centre right, and VIII.2.29, on right. June 2019. Looking north.

Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

VIII.2.26 Pompeii (on left). December 2005. VIII.2.28 and VIII.2.29. 

VIII.2.26 and VIII.2.28 Pompeii on right, 1959. Looking north from the rear. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.

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Part 1