Sculptural Fragments Research Articles

The Gloucester Hoard of Roman Bronze

AbstractA cache of Roman copper-alloy fragments was discovered, apparently carefully layered in a pit, in a field in Gloucestershire by metal-detectorists in 2017. The assemblage comprises over 5 kg of metal pieces, predominantly box fittings, but also smaller items of personal use such as a fourth-century belt buckle, a three-strand bracelet, a spoon and a coin (a nummus of Crispus). Most remarkable are the sculptural fragments, including several pieces of life-size statuary and the complete statuette of a dog with fine incised decoration, and part of an incised bronze inscription panel. This article considers the original form of the statuary and the use and deposition of the cache. It is proposed that these fragments represent the remains of the accoutrements of a temple or shrine in the local area, perhaps dedicated to Diana Venatrix, and that they were removed and deposited together in the late fourth century. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000501) and comprises additional figures.

The Nimrud Rescue Project

ABSTRACT The Nimrud Rescue Project is a collaborative project to recover fragments of Neo-Assyrian sculptures bombed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2015–2016, and to develop a long-term plan for the preservation and use of the site and its architectural remains through capacity-building and support of Iraqi heritage professionals. The Smithsonian Institution has been working with colleagues from the Nineveh Provincial Office of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) since early 2017. The project is one of many managed through a partnership with the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage (IICAH) in Erbil, Iraq. The Smithsonian has approached recovery and preservation of the site in partnership with Iraqi stewards. Together with the SBAH Nineveh Directorate, the Smithsonian worked to define site needs and develop the skills required by the cadre of local archaeologists (called the ‘Nimrud Rescue Team’, or NRT) to recover and protect stone sculpture fragments scattered across the site. A purpose-built storage facility has been completed and the NRT has begun the process of recovery using the ‘First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis’ (FAC) methodology developed by ICCROM and others for organized recovery of cultural heritage objects after a disaster.

Fugitive stones: the temple of Athena Nike, Athens in nineteenth-century photographs

What happens when early cameras are turned to 5th century BCE monuments and sculptures on the Acropolis of Athens? In what ways might the fragile surface of a daguerreotype, a salted paper print or an albumen print be said to have ‘captured’ a pentelic marble fragment? These questions were thrown into bold relief following the public announcement of the daguerreotype in 1839 when travellers to Greece in search of sites of archaeological interest began to take cameras with them. With rapid developments in photographic technology, photographs joined landmark texts and a body of drawings, paintings, engravings, plaster casts to alter established relationships with antiquities. Highly emotive material objects, photographs spoke a new language of loss and fragmentation; through the relative ease of their reproducibility photographs newly facilitated memory and forms of aesthetic resurrection. My essay charts nineteenth-century photographs of fragments of relief sculptures of Nikai from the exterior face of the parapet of the Ionic Temple of Athena Nike. Excavation and rebuilding of the Temple during 1835 and 1836 drew the eye of many travellers to the Acropolis. Resurrection of the classical temple shortly preceded the new technology of photography and, in representing a monument described by Wheler and Spon among others, photographs rehabilitated ‘lost’ stones. Exploring, alongside travel narratives, newly fugitive representations of winged and apterous Nikai, I consider what Walter Benjamin termed the collector’s relationship to ‘the scene, the stage’ of the ‘fate’ of a material object.

ИСТОРИКО-КУЛЬТУРОЛОГИЧЕСКАЯ ЭКСПЕРТИЗА И ИСТОЧНИКИ ВОЗНИКНОВЕНИЯ РУССКОЙ ДЕРЕВЯННОЙ СКУЛЬПТУРЫ «НИКОЛА МЦЕНСКИЙ»

The purpose of the article is to present the history and the analysis of the Russian wooden sculpture “Nikola Мtsenskiy” results of the examination from Peter and Paul Cathedral in Mtsensk. For the first time, the author conducted a historical and cultural examination of this object for religious purposes. The article defines the historical and cultural context of this object existence, its veneration as a relic, the problem of comparing the “The Legend of the appearance of the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas Wonderworker in the city of Mtsensk” and the preserved sculpture. The author also examines the historical and artistic sources of origin of similar items in the culture of the medieval Moscow state. The author dates the preserved fragment of the sculpture from Mtsensk Peter and Paul Cathedral to the late 1600s.

Reflexões sobre o meu processo criativo no ensaio Peito de Pedra

No ensaio Peito de Pedra*, trabalho em desenvolvimento, proponho a reflexão sobre o corpo feminino e os estigmas sexistas e machistas que se impõe a ele; do modelo renascentista do corpo clássico e perfeito; da obscenidade imposta à nudez, confinada a espaços delimitados pela moral judaico-cristã; da alienação da produção dos sentidos do corpo e sua objetificação. Uso a estética deste ensaio para me auto representar e a outras mulheres produzindo uma fricção surgida do contato entre performance, imagem e poesia, a partir de meus conflitos pessoais possibilitando a existência de um território próprio. As imagens são: autorretratos e retratos de mulheres, produzidos em longa exposição; reflexos em fragmentos de espelhos de esculturas, encontradas em museus e ruas de vários países; paisagens e objetos encontrados na natureza; e poesia autoral. * https://www.marigemma.com/peito-de-pedra

FIGURES IN MOTION: AN IONIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE SEVERE STYLE

A re-examination of three marble sculpture fragments from Miletos and their dating provides the catalyst for a revised approach to the source of the Severe Style both in chronological and geographical terms. A number of evidential threads are assembled to demonstrate the likelihood that the Severe Style has its origins in an earlier artistic milieu than usually assumed, i.e. before 494bc, with Ionian workshops playing an equal if not leading role to Attic ones in its creation. It is argued that the Severe Style should not be considered an Athenian artistic response to the trauma of the Persian Wars, produced in a thunderbolt of inspiration around 480bc. Instead the mechanisms of innovation for classical art should be sought elsewhere, with the shift from Archaic and Classical styles better conceived as a slower process with no epochal thresholds and the Severe Style's association with Athens a result of the city's subsequent successful cultural propaganda.

The fragment of an Egyptian anthropoid coffin from a Portuguese private collection (collection Rui Moreira)

This paper focuses on the examination of the fragment of an Egyptian sculpture kept in the Collection Rui Moreira. Using a comparative approach with objects featuring a similar design, we propose a reconstruction of the object regarding its original archaeological context and dating. This approach allows us to identify this object as an important piece of evidence of the cultural renewal carried out in Thebes under the rule of the Kushite kings.

A Fragment of a Monumental Bronze Statue, Lincoln

ABSTRACTA fragment of Roman monumental bronze sculpture was discovered near Lincoln in 2015 and reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. This note offers identification of the piece as an over-life-size finger, describes comparable examples and similar pieces from the local area, and makes suggestions as to the original form of the sculpture from which it may have derived. The statue's metallurgical characteristics and making, the possible context of display and the circumstances of deposition are also considered.

Stucco and clay in the decoration of the monumental buildings of Old Nisa

Unlike the terracotta decoration and the clay sculpture, the stucco production in Old Nisa has been only marginally studied. This is mainly due to the scarcity of figured materials available. Anyhow, recent excavations1 have unearthed some fragments of sculptures in stucco and clay, along with double-moulds in gypsum mortar that shed new light on techniques for the manufacturing of sculptures. The manufacturing process of a sculpture is similar for both materials, since the modelling of the figure occurs through the gradual application of layers of clay or stucco (or both) more and more fine and purified. Moreover, for the two materials, is attested both the simple hand modelling and the use of moulds.

Stone Buddha Statue at Yeolamgok Temple Site, Namsan of Gyeongju

Yeolamgok Temple site at Namsan of Gyeongju, is situated to the right side of Baegungye, on the south-west side of Gowisan Mountain. The site had been scattered with foundation stones from buildings and other sculpture fragments but has now undergone repair work. In 2007, the Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage led an excavation and restoration project on the site and the Stone Seated Buddha. During the works, a large rock-carved Buddha, over five metres tall in size, was found lying face down about thirty metres away from the Seated Buddha which has now been repaired. This discovery attracted much attention. This study has re-examined the production date of the two sculptures found on the temple site, based on previous studies, and furthermore determined when the temple was erected, and the meanings and significance of Namsan Mountain monuments in the history of sculptures. Compared to other works made in the late 8th-early 9th century, the Stone Seated Buddha has a fuller face and limbs that are shorter in proportion, and larger shoulders and chest that are closer to the 9th century works. As the body is more balanced and the details of the drapery and the flames on the halo more delicate and elegant than 9th century sculptures, this Buddha can be placed at early 9th century, earlier than the Stone Seated Buddha from Samneunggye. The Rock-carved Stone Standing Buddha discovered on the same site resembles the Rockcarved Standing Bhaisajyaguru Buddha from Haman, Gyeongsangnam-do, made in 801, in its broad jaws, high ushnisha, upward-turned lotus pedestal, and the shape of the feet. The face, drapery and the way the robe is worn also show familiarity with the main Buddha on the west side of the Carved Buddha Triads in Samneunggye, made in the early 9th century, placing the date at around the same time. However, the peculiarity of this Buddha’s mudra and the drapery makes it possible to categorize the sculpture as a Wangjeonggol type. Other statues classified as the type are: Stone Standing Buddha from Wangjeonggol, Namsan, Gyeongju; Stone Standing Buddha at the Dongguk University Museum, Stone Standing Buddha from Jeonungsu Temple site, Stone Standing Buddha from Hwangryonggol, Gyeongju; the main Buddha on the west side of the Carved Buddha Triads in Samneunggye, Namsan, Gyeongju; Stone Standing Buddha from Yaksugye, Namsan, Gyeongju; and Stone Standing Buddha from Jeungchon-ri, Sangju, Gyeongsangbuk-do. With the exception of the Buddha from Samneunggye that has a different mudra, all others are presumed to have been depicted with varying versions of the mudra of the Nine Levels of Rebirth, the mudra of Amitabha, judging by the way the thumb and the index or middle finger are touching, or the direction the hands are facing. Yeolamgok Temple site is at Baegungye, at the southeastern edge of the Namsan, Gyeongju, where many 9th century temple sites such as those of Yangjoamgok Temple site, Simsugok Temple site, and Baegungok Temple site remain. The statues of Baegungye, an important area where 9th century monuments are centred around, were made in the example of those at Yeolamgok Temple site and placed in other temples. Until the 8th century, Buddhist works were mainly centred on the north and the east side of Namsan, where the slope was gentle, but in the 9th century, the steeper south and the west, including the Baegungye area, saw prolific increase of Buddhist monuments. Political and social situations, as well as geographical elements brought about this phenomenon. As there were contenders to the throne and the royal sovereignty insecure, the kings of the 9th century needed to reassert their legitimacy. The Buddhist art works probably served to maintain the political system and reinforce the monarch’s supremacy as Buddhism held considerable influence over the Silla society in general. After the erection of a new temple was prohibited in 806, the second year of the reign of King Aejang, Buddhist works were presumably made not around the capital but in the provinces, and in areas of Namsan that were outside the city. The large Buddhist sculptures of the 9th century that measure over five metres tall, were likely the result of such political considerations and purposes.

An Arab Chariot Monument at Umm al-Jimāl

ABSTRACTThis article deals with unpublished fragments of sculpture in basalt found at Umm al-Jimāl, a site of a ruined Nabataean-Roman to Byzantine settlement in northern Jordan, six kilometers south of the border with Syria. The sculptures are typical for the southern Syrian volcanic zone of the Hawrān. The site is located at the extreme southern outcrop of this area, today part of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.The fragments are contemporary with a better-preserved corpus of similar sculptures investigated by the authors in the basalt desert of al-Ledjā, ancient Trachon(itis). At Umm al-Jimāl, an analogous chariot group driven by deities can be identified by a wheel block with traces of the tail hairs of animals in harness. The assembled figures in human shape with drapery are parallel to the Sahr al-Ledjā statuary. Taking all extant evidence into account, the authors propose recognizing the sculptural remnants from Umm al-Jimāl as testimony of a strongly Hellenistic-Romanized embellishment of a hitherto little-known Arab-Nabataean sanctuary dating to the first or second century AD. This shrine together with its sculptures had most probably been destroyed by the Palmyrenean Campaign in the later third century AD.

The burned shield-bearers: a detective story

Severe fires at the Friedrichshain flak bunker in May 1945 destroyed or severely damaged an important part of the collection of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin, today’s Bode Museum. Fragments of two marble sculptures by Tullio Lombardo, sculptor of the Italian renaissance, have survived and are now stored in the Bode Museum. In preparation for restoration, the condition of the sculptures has been documented in detail in 2010. The study revealed that the fragments are not stable enough to exhibit them in a horizontal nor in an upright position. The intention of a further study in 2012 was to find a correlation between ultrasonic velocity and mechanical properties of burned Carrara marble as a basis for stabilization measures. The results and numerous supplementary experiments show that the current condition of the sculptural fragments can not only be explained by the exposure to fire.

Centralidad del Templo 16 durante el Reino de Yax Pasaj en Copán

El arte público que aparece en las fachadas de edificios transmite temas complejos, mensajes dirigidos a una amplia audiencia, buscando legitimar la posición del gobernante. Restos de escultura arquitectónica del Clásico Tardío en Copán indican que los edificios desplegaban mensajes particulares ya sea utilizando individualmente, o de manera combinada, una imaginería local maya o extranjera. Las tradiciones extranjeras se identifican con el centro lejano de Teotihuacán en el México Central. Las tradiciones de Teotihuacán están presentes en el sitio desde el Clásico Temprano (430 D.C.), alrededor de los tiempos del fundador K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’. Yax Pasaj, el último gobernante de la dinastía del fundador, enfatizó esta herencia cultural a gran escala en el Templo 16. El análisis de escultura proveniente del templo resultó en la identificación de 63 motivos diferentes, los cuales revelaron tres temas iconográficos mayores: el edificio como la montaña simbólica tanto como el aposento y resurrección del fundador ancestral; como el lugar del ritual para la conmemoración y restablecimiento de la guerra y el sacrificio humano y; como una representación del universo.

Historical License: Architectural History in the Architectural Profession

In this essay, it is my intent to examine the history of architectural history's intersection with the profession of architecture in the United States.1 A common lens for viewing this evolving relationship is that of academia—that is, how architectural history has figured within architectural education. Instead, I will take a more arcane object of investigation: the architectural licensing exam. Since its inception in the 1920s, architectural history has been a constituent element of the tests that individuals must pass in order to call themselves architects. Thus, the licensing exam is the profession's deliberated and institutionalized statement of the status of architectural history, and an examination of the exam reveals the history of architectural history in relation to the profession of architecture. It is my argument that the mutable nature of this relationship demonstrates architectural history's sensitive tracking of the profession's status in the American political economy and, in turn, architectural history's fluctuation between autonomy and instrumentality within the profession. I will suggest in conclusion that architectural history is now capable of a “speculative turn,” building on Hayden White's idea of a “practical past.” At the end of the nineteenth century, architecture professionalized in the United States. At that time, architectural history was an intriguingly material study based on Beaux-Arts training that moved into the offices of architects like H. H. Richardson, whose apprentices studied ornament not just through precedents presented in books but also through plaster casts of sculpture and architectural fragments from antiquity. If books of precedent and architectural drawings constituted a significant part of the libraries in offices like H. H. Richardson's or McKim, Mead and White, the most likely textbook in schools was Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture .2 It remained a if not the core text through the 1930s, when Joseph Esherick recalled …

Polychromy in Africa Proconsularis: investigating Roman statues using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy

Abstract

Le Char de Vaison (Musée Calvet Inv. G. 189). Un faux savant du XVIe siècle ?

The coach of Vaison is well-knowed in the long historiography of the Roman carriage. He is traditionnally described as a traveling carriage for the elites, miltary officers or magistrates, perhaps a typical vehicle for the cursus publicus. However some doubts appear since the beginning of the 19th century about the authenticity of the monument discovered in an old building, the château Maraudi near Vaison, with a lot of other sculpture fragments, some really roman, other restaured, and some surely carved in the 16th century. The analytical obervation of the monument incite to many doubts. Carriage, harnessing, iconography presents a lot of problems. Finally we think this monument was made in the 16th century in a roman way by a local elite fascinated by Antiquity to promote his own social statute and honorabilty.

Il complesso monastico di S. Maria d’Aurona. Architettura e liturgia a Milano tra età longobarda e carolingia

During the building works carried out between 1868 and 1869 for the construction of the head-offices of the Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde in Milan, a large mixed group of Early medieval and Romanesque sculpture fragments was uncovered (now in the Sforza Castle Museum). Thanks to topographic coincidences, this group was immediately connected to the so called Aurona nunnery, a monastery probably founded by the Lombard king Liutprandus in the first half of VIII century, that took its name from the unfortunate king’s sister, Aurona, mentioned by Paul Deacon in his Historia Langobardorum. However only in 1944 Alberto de Capitani d’Arzago found the plan of the old building, giving finally an architectural frame to the fragments. Many doubts still remain on the chronological distribution of the pieces, their arrangement in the building and their liturgical function. Nevertheless, some new speculations can be now proposed after the cataloguing of all pieces in the museum’s stores.

A fragmented past: (re)constructing antiquity through 3D artefact modelling and customised structured light scanning at Athienou-Malloura, Cyprus

Abstract

Princeps Resurgens: archaeological research and photogrammetric documentation in the study of a Roman thoracata statue of Los Bañales (Uncastillo, Zaragoza)

In these lines we present a set of sculptural fragments in Carrara marble recovered in a secondary context in the forum of the Roman city of Los Bañales (Uncastillo, Zaragoza) and how digital recovery of these set using photogrammetric procedures has allowed the reintegration of digital fragments to restore the original appearance of the sculpture recovered so far, allowing the documentation of the remains, a deeper scientific study and the dissemination of the performed works.

Figures stripped to bones, just signs and symbols - solitude, discomfort, incommunicability.

Figures stripped to bones, just signs and symbols - solitude, discomfort, incommunicability.