Chapps

Clay relief showing an ancient hydraulis (water organ) at the center, flanked by two gladiators, each raising an arm as if in a gesture or salute. The figures are dressed in typical gladiatorial attire, and the organ features several upright pipes.

For #ReliefWednesday a depiction of a hydraulis – a water organ with a keyboard and pipes, the supply of air was created by water pressure. The instrument on the terracotta relief found in Trier is flanked by gladiators, a retiarius and a secutor. Water organs were used in... 🧵1/2

🏺 #archaeology

Could be an offering to the gods in a sacred space (although it being a mine seems an odd idea of sacred), or perhaps they were enslaved and outlived their usefulness to their masters.

It’s very odd, and the lines do remind me of 1920s Deco. Of course, that’s when it appears in the provenance. Naturally, it could be entirely legit, and just one of those unicums that come along every so often.

So not the reason for the return of this piece of art. Unbelievable.

Yep, two pieces of Art Deco artworks, both in public venues in New York. Famously ‘sexual’. FFS, this platform’s algorithms are really screwed up.

It actually reminds me of Paul Manship’s Art Deco works - not surprising, since he made classically themed sculpture.

A curious piece I saw yesterday was this engraved and painted bone plaque, perhaps ca. 4th Century AD, with its depiction of a Nereid and Triton. Beautifully idiosyncratic, but sadly lacking in provenance before 1926! #AncientStuff 🏺

Image: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Antikensammlung (X 293)

What an interesting piece. I’m always suspicious of unique pieces like this with absolutely no provenance, but I wouldn’t know what to make of this. I note the one spot where the yellowing of the bone has been stripped away, revealing how it would have once looked, before being brightly painted.

p.s. Notice that the ring made in the video doesn’t have any incised details - it’s merely a plain shape. Certainly, lost wax method could be used to create a blank ring, which an engraver would then carefully add detail. This box bezel ring is repoussé with added filigree and beading.

Left 📸 me

But larger, more ‘dimensional’ jewelry could be made with lost wax method, and with details engraved in later, and added filigree, et al. Not sure how the terminal end of a bracelet, below, was made, but it has clear tool marks on the eyebrows and hair, and added wreath with berries.

Even if someone were to do something like this for gold rings, we can actually see the tool marks on these pieces. Even more remarkably are the gems that were getting engraved in the ancient world. Now coins were different - they were made with a press/stamp.

Without a doubt!

These gold signet rings are all engraved with tools, which is why you have such sharp details. Too small for lost wax casting in those days. You can actually see the tool marks - remarkable.

Mine ate my neighbor’s cat. And their dog. 🤷‍♂️

Yes, aren't those great? And even a whole courtyard made of stones, creating patterns. They've expanded the garden a lot since you last saw it - there are now loads of pavilions for special events and exhibitions, or just for a shady spot on a hot day.

Impossible to housebreak ...

With sharp tools, incredibly good eyesight, and possibly rock crystal lenses for magnification.

That’s exactly how ancient Egyptian artists worked, so that they could scale up or down a very formalized image.

It’s really unique - she’s such a specific aspect of Hera, and we only really know her imagery from her city’s coins. The acorn pendant necklace immediately made me think of Aphrodite, actually, but this is clearly *not* that goddess. Really interesting back story.

Yes, and the griffins are both facing right, which is a bit odd - and the one on the right is dimensional, rearing forward from the stephane. Fascinating.

A high stephane (crown or tiara) made entirely of gold. It's wrapped in a gold myrtle branch with leaves and berries. This is a votive gift for the goddess, who wears the same crown.

The 5th c. BCE sanctuary of Hera Lakinia was - in myth - built by Herakles as penance for killing his friend Lakinius. Votive objects associated with the temple include this exquisite gold tiara for the goddess, who was protector of herds, well-being, and fertility. 🏺 3/

📸 Arch. Museum of Crotone

Silver stater (coin) with the beautifully molded head of Hera Lakinia facing three quarters right, wearing a high stephanos (crown or tiara) with a palmette between the foreparts of right-facing griffins; the edges of the stephanos is dotted. The goddess' hair is shown long and in thick masses of curly locks which radiate out from her face, as if alive. She wears a dotted necklace with acorn-shaped pendants. The inscription in Greek is the name of the city: Kroton. MFA Boston (00.89)

This silver stater from Kroton displays a portrait of Hera Lakinia with her high stephane (tiara) and distinctive hair that flies out around her head as if alive. Note also the necklace with leaf or acorn pendants. 🏺 2/

Greek, 400-325 BCE
📸 #MFABoston

The head of a goddess decorates the flat surface of this hollow gold scarab set in a silver swivel ring. Carved in relief rather than engraved as on a stone scarab, the goddess wears a stephane or crown decorated with three palmettes and a necklace with acorn-shaped pendants. Her locks of wavy hair radiate out from her face and she has a fierce expression. She represents Hera Lakinia, a local version of Hera, whose sanctuary was near the city of Kroton in South Italy. Coins of Kroton from the 300s BCE show similar images of Hera Lakinia, supporting this identification. Getty Villa Museum (85.AM.273)

You'd be forgiven if you thought that this figure on the bottom of a scarab ring was Medusa. In fact, it's Hera - Hera Lakinia, recognizable due to her image on the coins of the ancient Greek city of Kroton (Crotone) on the lonian coast of Italy. 🏺 1/

Greek, 4th c. BCE
#GettyVilla 📸 me

I just wish that the artist had actually used real text, so that we could understand the scene better. It’s probably represents the small shrines actors would have backstage, dedicated to Dionysos or some other god.

Great news! Thank you.

p.s. It now says ‘Pet no longer available’, and considering that they posted yesterday that he was being adopted … I’m hoping that means he’s enjoying his new home.

Odd. Maybe they were getting too many responses? I suppose a call to the shelter can clear it up.

Detail of the fresco known as 'The Player King' from Herculaneum Closeup of a woman - perhaps a muse? - writing something beneath a painting of a tragic theater mask. A rare depiction. Her hair and clothing look very Greek (not surprising, considering that area was...

Here’s a closeup of the ‘Muse’.

📸 me flic.kr/p/2qESnG6

Exactly. And I’m guessing the guy in the sarcophagus either owned or oversaw the work at the mill (sarcophagi of this style were for the elite).

LION-HEAD SARCOPHAGUS, C. 280-300 CE. PALAZZO CELSI We've seen this type of sarcophagus quite often in our years of sarcophagus-hunting. It's a sarcophagus "a lenòs" or "a tinozza", depending on whether you prefer the Greek or Italian word for "tub". This could be a tub for bathing or a tub for pressing wine; in the latter case it enters into the Dionysiac/Christian iconography of death via the metaphor of the body as a crushed grape releasing wine, the soul. It divides into two symmetrical strigilated sections, representing the waves of the river Styx or more generically the passage from life to death. The lion's heads on either side hold rings in their mouths, to further simulate a tub with handles, implying how death carries us all away. It comes from the still-impressive Celsi-Viscardi collection and this monument to death has found new life as a fountain.

#SarcophagusSaturday takes us into the chaotic courtyard of #palazzoCelsi on corso Vittorio near the corner with piazza del Gesù. Here we find a simple late C3 #sarcophagus subtly covered with implications of death, transformed delightfully into a #fountain, symbol of life. #AncientBluesky 🏺