DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7898#0011
ANCIENT
UNEDITED MONUMENTS
STATUES, BUSTS, BAS-RELIEFS.
PLATE ■ I.
This singular monument(i) is executed in very low relief on a block of
marble of considerable thickness. From the marks of the tenons on the
back part, it seems evidently to have been employed in architectural deco-
ration, and inserted in some part of a building; from which, however, it
projected in some degree, as appears by the continuation of the angular
ornament on the return side.
Perhaps this is the earliest specimen of Grecian sculpture hitherto dis-
covered. At first sight, it might be taken for a production of Egyptian or
Etruscan art, of which it has all the characteristics: the attitudes are stiff
and destitute of grace; the extremities sharp and angular; and the drapery
is disposed in small and parallel folds. This resemblance of the old Greek
style to that of the Egyptians and Etruscans, has been noticed by Straho(a)
and other writers of antiquity.
The inscriptions placed over the figures, though not in regular lines,
proceed in the same manner as those in Boustrephedon, one from right to
left, the two others in a contrary direction. They inform us that the subject
(i) Found in the island of Samothrace, and Dimensions, i foot 7 inches, by 1 foot
brought to France by the late Count de Choi- 5 inches.
seul-Gouffier. It is now in the Royal Museum, (2) Strabo, lib. xvn, cap. 28. Pausan., lib.i,
at the Louvre. cap. l\i et lib. vn, cap. 5.
i
UNEDITED MONUMENTS
STATUES, BUSTS, BAS-RELIEFS.
PLATE ■ I.
This singular monument(i) is executed in very low relief on a block of
marble of considerable thickness. From the marks of the tenons on the
back part, it seems evidently to have been employed in architectural deco-
ration, and inserted in some part of a building; from which, however, it
projected in some degree, as appears by the continuation of the angular
ornament on the return side.
Perhaps this is the earliest specimen of Grecian sculpture hitherto dis-
covered. At first sight, it might be taken for a production of Egyptian or
Etruscan art, of which it has all the characteristics: the attitudes are stiff
and destitute of grace; the extremities sharp and angular; and the drapery
is disposed in small and parallel folds. This resemblance of the old Greek
style to that of the Egyptians and Etruscans, has been noticed by Straho(a)
and other writers of antiquity.
The inscriptions placed over the figures, though not in regular lines,
proceed in the same manner as those in Boustrephedon, one from right to
left, the two others in a contrary direction. They inform us that the subject
(i) Found in the island of Samothrace, and Dimensions, i foot 7 inches, by 1 foot
brought to France by the late Count de Choi- 5 inches.
seul-Gouffier. It is now in the Royal Museum, (2) Strabo, lib. xvn, cap. 28. Pausan., lib.i,
at the Louvre. cap. l\i et lib. vn, cap. 5.
i