Abstract
The study of ornament in Greek and Roman art has been the focus of increasing scholarly interest over the last decade, with many publications shedding new light on the dynamics of ornatus in antiquity, and the discourses that shaped and situated it. Through an analysis of the depiction of gemstones in Roman wall painting, this article demonstrates the importance of ornamental details both to the mechanics of two-dimensional representation and to the interpretation of the images they adorned. I argue that by evoking the material qualities and sensual pleasures of real precious stones, painted gems served on the one hand to enhance the illusory reality of wall painting, and on the other to extol the delights of luxury and refinement—that is, of ornamentation itself.
Highlights
Scholarship on Roman wall painting has traditionally privileged the figurative over the decorative. This has often been motivated by a desire to recover the appearance of lost Greek panel paintings, but even studies that have stressed the aesthetic and metapoetic sophistication of Roman frescoes on their own terms, and that have demonstrated their importance as a means of displaying wealth and social status within the Roman house, have focused for the most part on depictions of mythological narratives—or else on illusionistic architectural vistas—isolating both from the painted decorative details that accompanied their representation
Work on the Egyptian motifs that appear in frescoes of the first centuries BCE and CE has long emphasised the ways in which ornamental details might communicate aspects of political or religious identity and engage viewers in discourses on luxury
By drawing attention to the depiction of gemstones in Second and Third Style wall painting, this paper has attempted to demonstrate the value of taking a closer look at the small details of Roman mural art and of gems in particular—objects which, like ornament itself, have long been side-lined in traditional accounts of Greek and Roman art history
Summary
Scholarship on Roman wall painting has traditionally privileged the figurative over the decorative. It is clear from the ancient texts, that Roman viewers of painted frescoes did not separate figure from decoration—or work from frame—in the way that much of this scholarship would have us believe (Platt and Squire 2017). This is not a new observation, nor is this paper the first to think harder about what ornament did in Roman painting. I suggest gems have much to tell us about the importance of ornament, as an agent of sensory encounter, to the mechanics of illusionistic painting and its effect on the viewer This might be said of any decorative motif that adds texture or shine to a fresco surface. Eliteelite patrons deployed fresco ornament to promote thethe pleasures of wealth, luxuria, and cultus
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