A long frieze in white marble with bluish veins, featuring a series of facing griffins, was found in numerous fragments in 1924 among the remains of the sunken imperial palace in the waters of the port of Baia.
The architectonic decorations adorned the upper part of the maritime Nymphaeum from the Severan age. In all likeness, this structure was originally built in the I century A.D. during the Flavian age, while the renovation can be dated back to the III century A.D.
The motif recurs in Roman architecture, especially in the architrave of Aula Regia at the Palatine, held at the Museum of Naples.
The artefact does not present traces of biological degradation.
Maniscalco, F. 1995, ‘Un ninfeo severiano nelle acque del porto di Baia’, Ostraka, 4(2), pp. 269-270.
Maniscalco, F. 1997, Ninfei ed edifici marittimi severiani del Palatium imperiale di Baia. Napoli: Massa Editore, pp. 44-46.
Napoli, M. 1953 ‘Di una villa marittima di Baia’, Bollettino di Storia dell’Arte. Istituto Universitario di Magistero, Salerno, III(1), pp. 100-101.
Zevi F. (eds) 2009, Museo archeologico dei Campi Flegrei. Castello di Baia. Napoli: Electa Napoli, vol. 3, p. 130.