Terracotta Models Research Articles

Examples of terracotta models of Nile boats from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Symbolism and significance

Examples of terracotta models of Nile boats from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Symbolism and significance

Bringing the desert to the Nile: Some thoughts on a Predynastic terracotta model

This article draws attention to an artefact in the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, that has thus far received little attention despite having been in their archive for nearly a century. The object (ROM 900.2.45) is a heavily reconstructed ter-racotta rectangular-based model with openings to one side and on top. Painted and incised figures decorate the sides of the object. This paper presents a fresh approach regarding this particular artefact by addressing three issues that are intended to provide an insight into the symbolism of desert and Nile hunting. Firstly, I discuss its identification as a “house”, proposing instead that it may well resemble a Predynastic boat cabin. Secondly, I discuss the iconographic interpre-tation, showing that the scene painted in its “narrow end A” is not a depiction of goats feeding their young, but rather a hunting scene. While this claim has been suggested by other Egyptologists as well, it is still possible to bring some new ideas to the discussion. Finally, I compare these findings with the available evidence and research conducted in the last few years to test this approach and propose an alternative interpretation to both the terracotta model and its painted scenes. This object can provide more information about a much-discussed topic : the apparent contradiction between desert hunting and river navigation.

Functions and forms of terracotta models. Reflections around a new San Girolamo for the Chigi chapel of the Siena cathedral by Bernini’s workshop

Functions and forms of terracotta models. Reflections around a new San Girolamo for the Chigi chapel of the Siena cathedral by Bernini’s workshop

Terracotta Models of Sandaled Feet: Votives from the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on Acrocorinth

Terracotta Models of Sandaled Feet: Votives from the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on Acrocorinth

Gli angeli zaratini a Ceregnano: una proposta per Gregorio Morlaiter

Nella piccola cittadina di Ceregnano, non lontano da Rovigo nel XVIII secolo venne costruita la chiesa parrocchiale di San Martino.1 I testi delle visite pastorali del vescovo di Adria Giovanni Soffietti (1733 - 1747) riportano che il vecchio edificio sacro era troppo piccolo per poter accogliere il crescente numero di abitanti e per tale motivo si decise per la costruzione di una nuova chiesa che nel 1739 però non era ancora terminata.2 La relazione della visita pastorale, compiuta a fine secolo nel 1792, dal vescovo Arnaldo Speroni degli Alvarotti (1766 - 1800), riferisce che l’altare maggiore era intitolato al Santissimo Sacramento, i quattro altari laterali erano dedicati alla Santa Croce, alla Madonna del Rosario, a Sant’Antonio e alla Madonna del Carmelo. La chiesa a navata unica e con l’abside a pianta semicircolare fu radicalmente rinnovata sia nel corso del XIX che del XX secolo. Tra le decorazioni scultoree della lineare facciata ad intonaco si evidenziano due statue in pietra collocate in nicchia. A sinistra San Bellino di Padova, vescovo dell’omonima città e patrono della diocesi di Adria e Rovigo, a destra la statua di San Martino vescovo di Tours cui è intitolata la chiesa. Entrambe le opere sono senza dubbio da attribuire a Giovanni Bonazza (Venezia 1654 – 1736, Padova) e lo stile esecutivo le colloca cronologicamente attorno al 1700.3 Ciò indicherebbe che molto verosimilmente vennero prese dalla vecchia parrocchiale e collocate sulla facciata del nuovo edificio.

The terracotta modelli of Palazzo Venezia in Rome: Investigation of the constituent materials for fundamental knowledge and to aid conservation decisions

This work presents the results of the investigation carried out on a group of terracotta sculptures (modelli) (sixteenth to eighteenth century) belonging to the extraordinary collection of Palazzo Venezia in Rome. The study, the diagnostic analysis, and the conservation work, were possible thanks to the grant supplied by the Getty Foundation of Los Angeles and by the bank Intesa San Paolo. The terracotta modelli had a practical function as they were of great use as sketches to the creation of the final masterpieces or as models for restoration. As a consequence, the terracotta models allow reconstructing the creative process of artists and restorers, fundamental to outlining the ancient workshop production. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, micro-stratigraphic investigation, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and micro-Raman spectroscopy were chosen as useful techniques to study the morphology and composition of the surface-painted layers. Usually the surfaces were painted in order to simulate the materials of the sculpture for which the model was created, for example lead white was used to obtain a white surface simulating marble. But, often the models were re-painted to make them more attractive for the antique trade. So, several pigments have been found on the surfaces such as zinc white, Prussian blue, chrome yellow, and mono-azo pigment. In some cases, the characterization of the surface paintings was particularly important to the final decision about removing or leaving the surface paint in place.

Bernini: Sculpting in Clay

The brilliantly expressive clay models created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) as sketches for his works in marble offer extraordinary insights into his creative imagination. Although long admired, the terracotta models have never been the subject of detailed examination. This publication presents a wealth of new discoveries (including evidence of the artist's fingerprints imprinted on the clay), resolving lingering issues of attribution while giving readers a vivid sense of how the artist and his assistants fulfilled a steady stream of monumental commissions. Essays describe Bernini's education as a modeler; his approach to preparatory drawings; his use of assistants; and the response to his models by 17th-century collectors. Extensive research by conservators and art historians explores the different types of models created in Bernini's workshop. Richly illustrated, Bernini transforms our understanding of the sculptor and his distinctive and fascinating working methods.

Wagons on the move: The study of wagons through landscape archaeology

Wagons from Early Bronze Age northern Mesopotamia are the main subject of the present paper. We can reconstruct their morphology and (partially) their function on the basis of different documents: terracotta models, representations on glyptic and other kind of support, written sources.This study considers a range of computational approaches for modelling ancient tracks and pathways throughout the development of a GIS platform and recurring to a series of spatial statistics methods, with the main aim to investigate the movement, in particular that on wagons.The investigated area is part of the so called “Khabur Triangle”, corresponding to modern north-eastern Syria. In particular this area is included between the wadi Jaghjagh (east) and the wadi Aweidj (west) and it comprises many important Early Bronze Age sites (such as Tell Brak, Tell Beydar, Tell Arbid, Tell Barri, Tell Chagar Bazar) with conspicuous documentations related to wagons (models, glyptic representations, written sources).

Bernini: sculpting in clay

Bernini: Sculpting in Clay, edited by C. D. Dickerson, Anthony Sigel and Ian Wardropper, with contributions by Andrea Bacchi, Tomaso Montanari and Steven F. Ostrow New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2012,416 pp., 437 colour and 35 bw Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 3 February 2013-14 April 2013.Bringing together almost all the surviving terracotta models by Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), and their related preparatory drawings, Bernini: Sculpting in Clay offers an intimate glimpse of the sculptor's hand in his work and, by extension, at work. Bernini's terracottas have been exhibited before, but only once as the exclusive focus of an exhibition, and so the ambitiously comprehensive treatment in New York and Fort Worth (with slight variations between the two places) was singular. The display of 36 fragile terracottas attributed to the sculptor and spanning his mature career, from about 1627 to 1672, makes intelligible as never before the visual traces of Bernini working, thinking, instructing and even administering.Although the terracottas were encountered as if independent objects of inherent aesthetic value, a significance Bernini probably did not invest in them, the objective of the exhibition and, more explicitly, of the accompanying catalogue was to elucidate the practical use of these models as components of an extensive, multi-media workshop practice. The organizers achieved this through a scrupulous assessment of authorship in the catalogue entries that combined art historical and technical/ scientific analysis. Their approach reprises the unprecedented technical investigation undertaken for the 1999 Fogg Art Museum exhibition of its 15 Bernini terracottas, which provided new insights into Bernini's distinctive modelling process and workshop practice. Extending the scope of the technical examination to a corpus of terracottas that the organizers attributed to Bernini, the present project furnishes the most inclusive assessment of the sculptor's engagement with clay. Their analysis of 52 models (some not exhibited) - inevitably a fraction of the estimated hundreds now lost - provides an inventory of Bernini's signature marks (like the evocatively named 'over-the-shoulder finger stroke' and 'neck fingernail pinch') as well as a deeper sense of how he shaped designs, presented ideas to patrons and directed assistants using terracottas of various size and finish. Far from being a paean to the master's hand, this focus on Bernini's touch ultimately sheds much-needed light on the complex, shifting and strategic division of labour in a workshop comprising a virtuoso leader, expert sculptors and anonymous novices, each of whom had a finger in production.The core of the Metropolitan installation featured 39 terracotta models (31 by Bernini; others produced in collaboration or by associates), and 29 drawings in chalk, ink and/or wash (26 by Bernini; others workshop productions). The integration of models and drawings highlighted the dialogical character of Bernini's multi-media process, especially how he exploited the representational and mimetic potential of one medium to complement the particular capacities of another. Bernini employed matte terracotta in his Tritons with Dolphins (cat. 11) to capture texture - rippling filaments covering tritons' tails; heads of downy curls; bristly-mouthed dolphins - and used a pen and wash Design for a Fountain with Tritons and Dolphins (fig. 27) to represent water and suggest light and shadow at play. Although the organizers adopted the post-Bernini distinction between the bozzetto (small, preliminary, sketchily executed ideas), and the modello (larger and more resolved), seeing these clay models together exposed their resistance to classification. The decision to display the terracottas in the round also laid bare Bernini's surprising lack of interest in resolving the backs of his bozzetti (and some modelli). …

A LATE GEOMETRIC ARCHITECTURAL MODEL WITH FIGURE DECORATION FROM ANCIENT HELIKE, ACHAEA

In memoriamEos Zervoudaki2The terracotta model presented in this article depicts the roof of a small temple ornaiskos. It was discovered during the excavation of a Late Geometric apsidal temple, probably dedicated to Poseidon Heliconius, at Nikoleika near Aegion. An account of the excavation can be found in the article by Erophile Kolia in this volume. The present article focuses on interpretation and analysis of the model in the context of the religious, social and political life of Achaea during the second half of the eighth centurybc.

Late Minoan III and Early Iron Age Cretan Cylindrical Terracotta Models: A Reconsideration

The present study explores the possible interpretation of the terracotta cylindrical models found in Late Minoan to Early Iron Age contexts (generally known as “(circular) hut models”) as reduced-scale models of tholos tombs. Theoretical issues concerning the relationship of an ‘architectural model’ with the archaeological context in which it is found are examined in order to support the above-mentioned suggestion. Archaeological data concerning the morphology, chronology, distribution, use and significance of the Late Minoan and Early Iron Age tholos tombs are explored in order to contribute to the discussion. The possible connection between the presence of the LM III tomb models in domestic contexts and the absence of contemporary intramural burials allows us to expand on the possible significance of these artefacts for our knowledge of LM mortuary practices and beliefs, especially those concerning the possible practice of ‘ancestor worship’. The presence of terracotta figurines of the ‘Minoan Goddess with Upraised Arms’ type attached in the interior of two examples (from SM Knossos and PG B Archanes) is considered as a late development within the tradition of these models and linked with the practice of placing MGUA figures in Early Iron Age tholos tombs (Rhotasi, Kourtes).

Cérémonies autour du thème de la navigation à Amathonte

A terracotta model boat of the Archaic period, found in the sea off Amathus, was published in 1999 by L. Basch who gave a detailed commentary from the perspective of its naval architecture. The fact that the vessel was in this particular instance occupied by seven people justifies making an iconograhic study so as to determine the significance of this kind of offering which was particularly common at the site of Amathus. The probable presence of a king-like figure amongst the persons on board allows new hypotheses to be put forward on the cults connected with sailing and the role played by the ruler.

Playing with fire: European terracotta models, 1740-1840

European sculptors of the Neoclassical period often modeled their works in clay before producing finished pieces in marble. These terracotta models are often more animated and revealing than the finished marbles and provide extraordinary insights into the creative process. This book offers the first comprehensive overview of Neoclassical terracotta models by European artists, featuring the works of Pajou, Houdon, and Canova, among many others. Leading scholars analyse modeling at every stage, from the brusque preliminary impulse to the highly finished statuette that is a work of art in its own right. They also comment on related issues: the model's role in the statuary of great men and in tomb sculpture; the sculptors' depictions of arcadia and the loves of the gods; the centering of activity in Rome, site of the collections of antiquities; and much more. Some 135 terracotta models are presented and reproduced, and short biographies of the artists are also included. This book is the catalogue for an exhibition that will be on view at the Musee du Louvre, Paris (September 15, 2003 to January 5, 2004); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (January 26 to April 23, 2004); and the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (May 6 to August 29, 2004).

"I'm No Angel": A Terracotta Model of "Saint Vincent Ferrer" by Giuseppe Sanmartino

"I'm No Angel": A Terracotta Model of "Saint Vincent Ferrer" by Giuseppe Sanmartino

Terracotta Models by Joseph Nollekens, RA

Terracotta Models by Joseph Nollekens, RA

A Terracotta Model for the Royal High Altar at Versailles

Previous articleNext article No AccessA Terracotta Model for the Royal High Altar at VersaillesBruno Pons and Mark PolizzottiBruno Pons Search for more articles by this author and Mark Polizzotti Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Metropolitan Museum Journal Volume 321997 Sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/1512996 Views: 3Total views on this site Copyright 1997 The Metropolitan Museum of ArtPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Implications of a Decorated Predynastic Terracotta Model for Saharan Neolithic Influence in the Nile Valley

HIS article describes a uniquely decorated terracotta model from the collections of the Egyptian Department, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) (figs. 1-5) and offers some thoughts on its possible meaning in the context of late prehistoric cultural developments in Egypt. The specimen (no. 9002.45) was acquired by the ROM in Luxor before 1910 and has not been previously published. Generally considered to be a house model, it could as easily represent a stable or a storehouse if, in fact, it has a real life counterpart.' Its painted and incised decorations are unique when compared with Predynastic ceramic or rock art of the Nile Valley, but they show some remarkable similarities with the rock art of the Western Desert of Egypt. The specimen is said to date to the Naqada II period of the Predynastic era according to the accession records. A thermoluminescence (TL) age-determination of between 4200 and 6400 B.P. was obtained on the model by the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford (no. 481b570).2 The TL range is too broad to be useful in dating the model precisely, and both Naqada I and Naqada II assignments have been proposed.3

A Late Bronze Age House- or Sanctuary-model from The Menelaion, Sparta

A preliminary account is given of a fragmentary terracotta model for a flat-roofed, rectangular building found in a context no later than LH IIIA1 in the terrace fill of Mansion 2, at the Menelaion.

The Ghiaccio Forte Votive Terracotta Figurine

Research Article| January 01 1975 The Ghiaccio Forte Votive Terracotta Figurine Mario Del Chiaro Mario Del Chiaro Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar California Studies in Classical Antiquity (1975) 8: 33–39. https://doi.org/10.2307/25010680 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Mario Del Chiaro; The Ghiaccio Forte Votive Terracotta Figurine. California Studies in Classical Antiquity 1 January 1975; 8 33–39. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/25010680 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentClassical Antiquity Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1976 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Terracotta Models as Evidence for Vehicles with Tilts in the Ancient Near East

In his important study of early wheeled vehicles from the Caucasus region, S. Piggott briefly considered two terracotta models of wagons with arched tilts from the Near East (Piggott 1968, 273). Following Speiser (1934), he argued that the actual wagons represented by these models had been introduced into the Near East from the Caucasus by the later 3rd millennium B.C. The present article aims at a more comprehensive review of the Near-Eastern evidence. It will be almost exclusively concerned with terracotta models of both four-wheeled wagons and two-wheeled carts, because these constitute practically all the documentation we have of vehicles with tilts. This material undoubtedly will be incomplete, since there must be more examples among the many models that have not been published, or published only inadequately. A full description will be possible only in the one case where we have personally examined the model (wagon A1).