DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12655#0019
INTRODUCTION.
XV
Claude Bouillet and Gabriel Leandrat, being driven from their work by a heavy
shower of rain, observed a small cave near a cascade, the mouth of which was
stopped up by a large stone. This they immediately removed vvith their pick-
axes ; and within found this figure, which they forthwith carried to a Mons.
Janin, a bourgeois of Huis, in whose possession it remained to the year 1747 ;
when it came to the knowledge of the Abbe Chalat, almoner of the Chapter of
Belleville, who purchased it of Janin, and had the circumstances of its discovery
taken in a proch-verbal before a notary, which he sent to Comte Caylus ; who
has published it in the seventh volume of his Antiquities, p. 268, and given engra-
vings of the pedestal, the purse, and the gold torques, Suppl. pl. lxxvi. . . . It
continued in the possession of the Abbe Chalat at Belleville, in the Beaujolois,
till the year 1788, when he died and left it to his friend the Abbe Tessant at
Paris, who, upon the dangers which threatened all the French clergy in the year
1792, sold it to me.” * * * §
Other of these bronzes worthy of mention are the helmet (251) dedicated
by the Argives from the spoils of the Corinthians ; the tablet (264) with a treaty
between the Eleans and Heraeans ; a head of Hermes of Greek work (283) ; a
bust of Triton (975) ; a statue of the youthful Dionysos (1326); and various
Etruscan mirrors and statuettes.
In the year 1823 an important acquisition was made by the liberality of
His Majesty King George IV., who presented the bronze helmet from Olympia
(250) with an inscription recording its dedication by Hiero and the Syracusans
after the victory over the Tyrrhenians in B.C. 474. It had been found at
Olympia in 1817, and presented to the King by Sir Patrick Ross.
During the next few years the most important accession was that of the
Sirisbronzes (Pl. VIII.), found in 1820 and purchased from the Chevalier Brond-
sted in 1833 by public subscription. This was followed by a series of Etruscan
acquisitions, mostly candelabra, vases, and statuettes from the Canino
excavations at Vulci and from the dealer Campanari (1837-1847).! Through
the agency of the latter was acquired an interesting group of objects from the
Lake of Falterona (Nos. 450, 459, 463, 614-616, 679). About 600 statuettes and
votive objects in bronze were found in and near this lake, and it is supposed
that they had fallen in a landslip.J The lake is high up on the mountain side,
and it has been suggested that it possessed certain medicinal qualities which
would account for the presence of a shrine containing these votive objects.§
In 1850 the Museum acquired the contents of the Polledrara tomb, or
Grotta d’ Iside, near Vulci. These objects are very important for the history
of early Etruscan art, as they include several Egyptian vases and scarabs
in porcelain, which give the tomb an approximate date of about 600 B.C.
* Payne Knight, MS. Catalogue of Bronzes, p. 181.
f See Nos. 588, 591, 594, 597, 609, 659, 668, 782; 392, 587, 590, 599, 619, 747, 755, 781.
J See Micali, Mon. Ined. p. 86 ff., and Dennis, Etrur'ud, ii. p. 107 ff.
§ Braun in Bull. dcll' Insl. 1842, p. 179*
XV
Claude Bouillet and Gabriel Leandrat, being driven from their work by a heavy
shower of rain, observed a small cave near a cascade, the mouth of which was
stopped up by a large stone. This they immediately removed vvith their pick-
axes ; and within found this figure, which they forthwith carried to a Mons.
Janin, a bourgeois of Huis, in whose possession it remained to the year 1747 ;
when it came to the knowledge of the Abbe Chalat, almoner of the Chapter of
Belleville, who purchased it of Janin, and had the circumstances of its discovery
taken in a proch-verbal before a notary, which he sent to Comte Caylus ; who
has published it in the seventh volume of his Antiquities, p. 268, and given engra-
vings of the pedestal, the purse, and the gold torques, Suppl. pl. lxxvi. . . . It
continued in the possession of the Abbe Chalat at Belleville, in the Beaujolois,
till the year 1788, when he died and left it to his friend the Abbe Tessant at
Paris, who, upon the dangers which threatened all the French clergy in the year
1792, sold it to me.” * * * §
Other of these bronzes worthy of mention are the helmet (251) dedicated
by the Argives from the spoils of the Corinthians ; the tablet (264) with a treaty
between the Eleans and Heraeans ; a head of Hermes of Greek work (283) ; a
bust of Triton (975) ; a statue of the youthful Dionysos (1326); and various
Etruscan mirrors and statuettes.
In the year 1823 an important acquisition was made by the liberality of
His Majesty King George IV., who presented the bronze helmet from Olympia
(250) with an inscription recording its dedication by Hiero and the Syracusans
after the victory over the Tyrrhenians in B.C. 474. It had been found at
Olympia in 1817, and presented to the King by Sir Patrick Ross.
During the next few years the most important accession was that of the
Sirisbronzes (Pl. VIII.), found in 1820 and purchased from the Chevalier Brond-
sted in 1833 by public subscription. This was followed by a series of Etruscan
acquisitions, mostly candelabra, vases, and statuettes from the Canino
excavations at Vulci and from the dealer Campanari (1837-1847).! Through
the agency of the latter was acquired an interesting group of objects from the
Lake of Falterona (Nos. 450, 459, 463, 614-616, 679). About 600 statuettes and
votive objects in bronze were found in and near this lake, and it is supposed
that they had fallen in a landslip.J The lake is high up on the mountain side,
and it has been suggested that it possessed certain medicinal qualities which
would account for the presence of a shrine containing these votive objects.§
In 1850 the Museum acquired the contents of the Polledrara tomb, or
Grotta d’ Iside, near Vulci. These objects are very important for the history
of early Etruscan art, as they include several Egyptian vases and scarabs
in porcelain, which give the tomb an approximate date of about 600 B.C.
* Payne Knight, MS. Catalogue of Bronzes, p. 181.
f See Nos. 588, 591, 594, 597, 609, 659, 668, 782; 392, 587, 590, 599, 619, 747, 755, 781.
J See Micali, Mon. Ined. p. 86 ff., and Dennis, Etrur'ud, ii. p. 107 ff.
§ Braun in Bull. dcll' Insl. 1842, p. 179*