DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18216#0308
294:
CATALOGUE OF SCULPTURE.
SEPULCHRAL RELIEFS.
The Greek sepulchral reliefs are of several distinct
types, each type having an independent origin and his-
tory, though occasionally the different types are blended
one with another.
The early Attic examples which are assigned to a period
before the Persian wars, have recently been collected by
Conze (Die Attischen Grabrcliefs, Part 1), and we are thus
enabled to trace the rise of the different types in Attica,
so far as the materials discovered allow. The earliest and
simplest form of monument is the plain stone (cm/A^), set
up on a mound (tu/*/}os) to mark the place of the grave, and
such a tomb is well known to Homer (11. xi., 371, etc.)
Such a stone would naturally bear the name of the
deceased, together with the name of his father, or of the
persons who erected the monument. The earliest Attic
examples are also surmounted by a simple ornament,
especially the palmette between volutes, partly in relief,
and partly in colour. The treatment of the palmette
closely resembles that of the antefixal ornament of the
Parthenon (No. 352). At an uncertain period in the fifth
century the use of the acanthus-leaf ornament was intro-
duced, and the decoration of the stelae became elaborate
and beautiful. It has been thought that the acanthus
was developed by the Greeks of Ionia, before the middle
of the fifth century, and only made its way slowly
in Athens (Furtwaengler, Coll. Sabouroff, i., p. 8), but it
cannot be proved to have become common before it had
been made familiar by the architecture of the Erech-
theion, towards the close of the fifth century. The early
Corinthian capital of the single column of the Temple
at Phigaleia appears to be copied from a stele with
volutes and an acanthus.
CATALOGUE OF SCULPTURE.
SEPULCHRAL RELIEFS.
The Greek sepulchral reliefs are of several distinct
types, each type having an independent origin and his-
tory, though occasionally the different types are blended
one with another.
The early Attic examples which are assigned to a period
before the Persian wars, have recently been collected by
Conze (Die Attischen Grabrcliefs, Part 1), and we are thus
enabled to trace the rise of the different types in Attica,
so far as the materials discovered allow. The earliest and
simplest form of monument is the plain stone (cm/A^), set
up on a mound (tu/*/}os) to mark the place of the grave, and
such a tomb is well known to Homer (11. xi., 371, etc.)
Such a stone would naturally bear the name of the
deceased, together with the name of his father, or of the
persons who erected the monument. The earliest Attic
examples are also surmounted by a simple ornament,
especially the palmette between volutes, partly in relief,
and partly in colour. The treatment of the palmette
closely resembles that of the antefixal ornament of the
Parthenon (No. 352). At an uncertain period in the fifth
century the use of the acanthus-leaf ornament was intro-
duced, and the decoration of the stelae became elaborate
and beautiful. It has been thought that the acanthus
was developed by the Greeks of Ionia, before the middle
of the fifth century, and only made its way slowly
in Athens (Furtwaengler, Coll. Sabouroff, i., p. 8), but it
cannot be proved to have become common before it had
been made familiar by the architecture of the Erech-
theion, towards the close of the fifth century. The early
Corinthian capital of the single column of the Temple
at Phigaleia appears to be copied from a stele with
volutes and an acanthus.