Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Susanne Ebbinghaus, Lisa Anderson (Contributor), Francesca G. Bewer (Contributor)
Publisher (in print)
WorldCat
Google Books
This publication brings together prominent art historians, conservators, and scientists to discuss fresh approaches to the study of ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern works of bronze. Featuring significant bronzes from the Harvard Art Museums’ holdings as well as other museum collections, the volume’s eight essays present technical and formal analyses in a format that will be useful for both general readers and students of ancient art. The text provides an overview of ancient manufacturing processes as well as modern methods of scientific examination, and it focuses on objects as diverse as large-scale statuary and more utilitarian armor, vessels, and lamps. Filling a current gap in the art historical literature, this book offers a much-needed, accessible introduction to ancient bronzes.
Author
Susanne Ebbinghaus, Lisa Anderson (Contributor), Francesca G. Bewer (Contributor)
PublisherHarvard Art Museums
Print publication date November 2014 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780300207798
EISBN 9780300236842
Copyright© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Illustrations 113 Illus.
Print Status in print
Posted by John Carlson
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Illustrations

List of illustrations

  • Chemist Rutherfurd John Gettens works on the Harvard Art Museums' Horus falcon (1943.1118)
  • Francesca Bewer and Henry Lie examine bronzes in the Harvard Art Museums' Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies
  • The Age of Bronze
  • Striding figure with ibex horns, a raptor skin draped around the shoulders, and upturned boots
  • Head of a ruler
  • Foundation peg
  • Dagger blade with four rivets
  • Battle axe head
  • Striding male holding a vessel
  • Female statuette
  • Group of metallurgical tools from Palaikastro
  • Rod tripod stand
  • Beaked pitcher; x-radiograph showing darker ovoid marks made by the hammering process
  • Handle and top of an oinochoe (wine pitcher): detail of the fur-like texture created by the effects of corrosion on the microstructure of the metal
  • Quatrefoil fibula: detail showing the elongated fissures that follow the structure of the compacted metal
  • Lost-wax casting of a hollow statuette
  • Statuette group
  • Horus falcon
  • Horus falcon, x-radiograph showing hollow bird bones in the belly and core pin holes (small, elongated, dark spots) marked by arrows on the back and on the side of the crown
  • Fulcrum (couch attachment) terminating in a horse's head, with sleeping Ariadne and a bust of a maenad, detail of the back
  • Engraved mirror with Castor, Pollux, and swan, detail of cast-on repair on the handle
  • Bull's head attachment from a cauldron, view of underside showing the attachment pins
  • Female head (probably Aphrodite)
  • Female head (probably Aphrodite): view from below showing V-shaped cut-out neckline
  • Female head (probably Aphrodite): detail of recarving of hair
  • Handle and top of an oinochoe (wine pitcher)
  • Handle and top of an oinochoe (wine pitcher), detail of tool marks in decorative patterns
  • Head of a lynx, detail of incised lines
  • Belt with zoomorphic clasps, detail of clasp
  • Military diploma with Latin inscription: detail of incised lettering with burrs
  • Fibula with incised catchplate, detail of tremolo on horse and bird
  • Strigil
  • Strigil, close-up of handle
  • Strigil, x-radiograph revealing stamped patterns and inscription
  • Part of a box mirror, detail showing turning marks
  • Open-faced, "Illyrian" helmet, side view
  • Open-faced, "Illyrian" helmet, detail of pseudomorph in cheekplate
  • Fibula catchplate fragment, back-scattered electron (BSE) image through a sample from the fragment
  • Elemental map of the copper distribution in the sample, showing the depletion of copper in the corroded surface
  • Elemental map of the tin distribution in the sample, showing the enrichment of tin in the corroded surface
  • Open-faced, "Illyrian" helmet: photomicrograph of an etched metallographic cross section. The helmet's flange shows large equiaxed grains and bent annealing twins
  • Open-faced, "Illyrian" helmet: photomicrograph of an etched metallographic cross section. The helmet's wall shows highly defomed, elongated grains
  • Bull's head attachment from a cauldron, coarse dendrites on the tip of the broken horn
  • Pin head in the form of a winged horse
  • Hand cymbal with bull finial
  • Seven biconical beads from Olynthus (Greece)
  • Censer from Nuzi
  • Detail of Rutherford John Gettens's notes showing proposed electrochemical reduction of the Nuzi censer
  • Dagger
  • Intarsia panel
  • Intarsia panel, detail
  • Intarsia panel, detail
  • Cat
  • Cat, detail of fine inlay on proper left shoulder
  • Intarsia panel
  • Fulcrum (couch attachment) terminating in a horse's head, with sleeping Ariadne and bust of a maenad
  • Two-edged razor
  • Lunate razor
  • Lunate razor
  • Lunate razor
  • Openwork disc
  • Handle in the form of a leopard
  • Alexander with a lance ("Alexander Nelidov")
  • Statuette of a warrior
  • Berlin Foundry Cup, detail of tondo
  • Berlin Foundry Cup, detail of exterior
  • Berlin Foundry Cup, detail of exterior
  • Hand from a life-size statue
  • Part of a foot from a large statuette
  • Griffin protome from a cauldron
  • Griffin protome from a cauldron
  • Griffin protome from a cauldron
  • Computer-generated drawing from digital photograph of griffin protome
  • Julia Domna, front view
  • Julia Domna, back view, interior rods marked by arrows
  • Bust from the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum
  • Bust of the type of the marble Mantua Apollo (in Mantua, Palazzo Ducale)
  • Statue of the so-called Apollo Citarista (cithara now missing) from Pompeii, House of the Citarista
  • Statue of "Apollo" from Piombino
  • Statue of Apollo-type from Pompeii
  • Aphrodite holding a mirror and apple
  • Aphrodite wearing a bird headdress
  • Statue of Demosthenes
  • Inscribed small-scale portrait bust of Demosthenes
  • Small-scale portrait of Demosthenes
  • Statuette of a philosopher on a lamp stand
  • Portrait statuette of the Greek orator Demosthenes
  • Portrait statuette of the Greek orator Demosthenes
  • Portrait statuette of the Greek orator Demosthenes
  • Portrait statuette of the Greek orator Demosthenes
  • Axe head and shaft hole with feline decoration
  • Corinthian helmet
  • Chigi Olpe, detail
  • Mitra
  • Bow fibula: horses, birds, and fish
  • Horse-shaped cheek piece for a bridle
  • Griffin protome from a cauldron
  • Cauldrons, bowls, and collapsed tables as found in Tumulus MM at Gordion
  • Bull's head attachment from a cauldron
  • Hydria (water jar) with siren attachment
  • Lamp stand in the form of a tree
  • Six-nozzled suspension lamp with heads and ship's prows: seen from the side
  • Six-nozzled suspension lamp with heads and ship's prows: seen from below
  • Two-nozzled suspension lamp with lion protomes and Pan's heads
  • Lamp with handle in the form of a horse
  • Lamp handle with panther's head, detail
  • Lamp handle with panther's head
  • Lamp handle with panther's head, detail
  • Lamp hanger
  • Lamp hanger with inscribed "tabula ansata" dedicated to Theos Hypsistos
  • Lamp in the shape of a trussed gazelle
  • Lamp in the shape of a trussed gazelle
  • Lamp in the shape of a trussed gazelle, detail
Chapters
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Introduction
Susanne Ebbinghaus
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Relatively rare today, bronze is of great historical significance as a material for human-made objects. Even though it was never as ubiquitous as stone, wood, or clay, it was sufficiently common to have given its name to an entire epoch. Sculptures and artifacts from a variety of cultures and periods and of vastly diverse...
Susanne Ebbinghaus
Harvard Art Museums
© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
BronzeBronzes, AncientArt collectionsArt museumsArt historians

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Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
1. The Age of Bronze in Greece, Cyprus, and the Near East
Sean Hemingway
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
The use of bronze has long been considered a defining characteristic of the earliest civilizations. In coming to terms with human origins, the ancient Greeks, as recorded in Hesiod’s poem Works and Days (lines 105-201), devised a chronology of the five ages of mankind: a Golden Age, a Silver Age, a Bronze Age...
Sean Hemingway
Harvard Art Museums
© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Bronzes, AncientBronze age--Aegean Sea RegionBronze age--CyprusBronze age--Middle EastBronze--Metallurgy

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Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
2. Ex Aere Factum: Technical Notes on Ancient Bronzes
Henry Lie and Francesca G. Bewer
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Sometime in the early 1620s, a group of foreign artists studying antiquities in Rome had a debate about what makes for excellent bronze casting. The Flemish sculptor François Du Quesnoy (1597-1643) and the German artist Joachim von Sandrart (1606-1688) decided to climb up onto the equestrian monument to Emperor Marcus...
Henry Lie and Francesca G. Bewer
Harvard Art Museums
© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Bronzes, AncientBronze--MetallurgyArtists' materialsArt--Technique--HistorySculpture--Technique

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Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
3. Analytical Approaches to Ancient Bronzes
Katherine Eremin and Josef Riederer (Contributor)
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Analyses of ancient bronzes increase our understanding of individual objects and the cultures that produced them by providing information on movement of materials and the development of technologies. Analytical investigations of the composition of ancient “bronzes” have been ongoing since at least the late eighteenth...
Katherine Eremin and Josef Riederer (Contributor)
Harvard Art Museums
© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Metallurgical analysisBronzes, AncientCopper alloysChemistry, MetallurgicArt--Technique--History

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Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
4. Approaches to the Identification and Classification of Ancient Bronzes in Museum Collections
Lisa Anderson
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Part of a museum’s mission is to document and study all objects in its care. Many museums include this policy in an official mission statement. That of the Harvard Art Museums is “to preserve, document, present, interpret, and strengthen the collections and resources in their care, and in keeping with the larger...
Lisa Anderson
Harvard Art Museums
© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Bronzes, AncientCataloging of artArt criticismArt collectionsClassification

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Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
5. Artists and Workshops: The Craft and the Product
Carol C. Mattusch
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
The study of large-scale classical statuary has usually been approached by way of connoisseurship, not workshop practices. To identify an artist’s workshop, scholars have traditionally used stylistic similarities among the finished products to recognize the hand of an artist or his followers. Proveniences do not come into the argument because they are rarely, if ever, known. One of...
Carol C. Mattusch
Harvard Art Museums
© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Bronzes, AncientArt--Technique--HistoryArt criticismArt--ForgeriesSculpture--Technique

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Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
6. Roman Bronze Statuettes: Copies of Greek Sculpture?
Adrian Stähli
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Roman bronze statuettes largely follow a repertoire of visual motifs and iconographic types that had been developed in...
Adrian Stähli
Harvard Art Museums
© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Bronzes, AncientPortrait sculpture, ClassicalSculpture--TechniqueInfluence (Literary, artistic, etc.)Copying

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Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
7. Men of Bronze— Cups of Bronze: Bronze in the Iron Age
Susanne Ebbinghaus
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Bronzeworking in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East reached its apogee in the first millennium BCE, well after the end of the Bronze Age. Anthony Snodgrass, a specialist in Greek archaeology, has drawn attention to “the paradoxical fact that a developed Iron Age culture may be...
Susanne Ebbinghaus
Harvard Art Museums
© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Bronzes, AncientArmor, AncientIron ageBronze implementsCivilization, Greco-Roman

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Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
8. The Lure and Lore of Light: Roman Lamps in the Harvard Art Museums
Ruth Bielfeldt
Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
Roman bronze furniture has not received the scholarly attention it deserves, and that is, first and foremost, a matter of taste. The flamboyant and fantastic bronze creations of the early imperial period appear to violate key design principles of twentieth-century home furnishing: namely, purity and functionality. Roman...
Ruth Bielfeldt
Harvard Art Museums
© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Bronzes, AncientLamps, RomanIconographySymbolism in artCivilization, Greco-Roman

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Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes
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