DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12655#0041
INTRODUCTION.
XXXVU
process of topevTua) (caelatura) or chasing, vvhich vvas, in fact, a necessary
complement of the other. The method is one that dates back to the earliest
timcs, and is employed for other metals, silver and gold, as well as bronze. The
<T<f>vpr)\aTQv, which has been discussed above, is only an early variety of the
process ; it was also employed for spear-heads, vvhich were beaten out of a flat
piate and bent up into the necessary form. The method generally employed
vvas as follows : A plate of thin metal vvas heated and pressed down on to a tray
full of pitch, to which it of course adhered. The pattern vvas drawn on the
plate and blocked out roughly vvith a punch and hammer, the metal being
embossed in the soft pitch, which, however, is hard enough to prevent the tool
going through. The plate is then heated again, removed, heated a third time,
and put in the reverse way, and the other side is first hammered and then vvorked
up with a sharp graving-tool. The finest instances of repousse vvork known are
the Siris bronzes (Pl. VIII.) ; many of the designs (emblemata) on the Greek
mirror-cases are also exceedingly beautitul, and of most elaborate technique.
The process of incised or engraved work was not much practised by the
Greeks (though we possess two fine examples on the mirrors Nos. 288, 289, and
an archaic specimen in the diskos, No. 248), but was brought to a pitch of per-
fection by the Etruscans in their cistae and mirrors. To an Etruscan a mirror
vvas vvhat a kylix was to a Greek vase-painter of the fifth century, an object
which afforded him the opportunity of shewing unlimited skill in dravving and
genius of conception, and the great engraved friezes round the cistae are of no
less merit than the mirror-designs.
III. GREEK BRONZE WORK.
The first section of this Catalogue (A. Nos. 1-336) is
Sculpture m occupied vvith the description of bronzes found on Greek soil,
bronze in Greeee. or vvhich, for reasons of style or from the inscriptions they
1. The arehaie bear, may be attributed directly to a Hellenic origin. A
period. history of Greek bronzes must necessarily be in a measure a
history of Greek sculpture, and therefore beyond the scope
of a vvork of this kind, but there are many features peculiar to Greek bronze
vvork as opposed to marble which call for special remark, and for illustration
from the examples hereafter to be described. Until recently the number of genuine
Greek bronzes in existence afforded little material for classification, especially
in the archaic period ; but recent excavations have done much to extend our
knowledge in this respect, and moreover the chronological data that have been
derived from pottery-finds can be applied to such bronzes as have been found
vvith the various classes of pottery, as at Cameiros, vvith a vievv to a more
accurate estimation of their place in the history of art.
We have made somc allusion to the bronze remains of the Mycenaean
period, chiefly from a technical point of vievv ; the artistic side can as yet hardly
be said to be represented. But even among Mycenaean remains there occur
XXXVU
process of topevTua) (caelatura) or chasing, vvhich vvas, in fact, a necessary
complement of the other. The method is one that dates back to the earliest
timcs, and is employed for other metals, silver and gold, as well as bronze. The
<T<f>vpr)\aTQv, which has been discussed above, is only an early variety of the
process ; it was also employed for spear-heads, vvhich were beaten out of a flat
piate and bent up into the necessary form. The method generally employed
vvas as follows : A plate of thin metal vvas heated and pressed down on to a tray
full of pitch, to which it of course adhered. The pattern vvas drawn on the
plate and blocked out roughly vvith a punch and hammer, the metal being
embossed in the soft pitch, which, however, is hard enough to prevent the tool
going through. The plate is then heated again, removed, heated a third time,
and put in the reverse way, and the other side is first hammered and then vvorked
up with a sharp graving-tool. The finest instances of repousse vvork known are
the Siris bronzes (Pl. VIII.) ; many of the designs (emblemata) on the Greek
mirror-cases are also exceedingly beautitul, and of most elaborate technique.
The process of incised or engraved work was not much practised by the
Greeks (though we possess two fine examples on the mirrors Nos. 288, 289, and
an archaic specimen in the diskos, No. 248), but was brought to a pitch of per-
fection by the Etruscans in their cistae and mirrors. To an Etruscan a mirror
vvas vvhat a kylix was to a Greek vase-painter of the fifth century, an object
which afforded him the opportunity of shewing unlimited skill in dravving and
genius of conception, and the great engraved friezes round the cistae are of no
less merit than the mirror-designs.
III. GREEK BRONZE WORK.
The first section of this Catalogue (A. Nos. 1-336) is
Sculpture m occupied vvith the description of bronzes found on Greek soil,
bronze in Greeee. or vvhich, for reasons of style or from the inscriptions they
1. The arehaie bear, may be attributed directly to a Hellenic origin. A
period. history of Greek bronzes must necessarily be in a measure a
history of Greek sculpture, and therefore beyond the scope
of a vvork of this kind, but there are many features peculiar to Greek bronze
vvork as opposed to marble which call for special remark, and for illustration
from the examples hereafter to be described. Until recently the number of genuine
Greek bronzes in existence afforded little material for classification, especially
in the archaic period ; but recent excavations have done much to extend our
knowledge in this respect, and moreover the chronological data that have been
derived from pottery-finds can be applied to such bronzes as have been found
vvith the various classes of pottery, as at Cameiros, vvith a vievv to a more
accurate estimation of their place in the history of art.
We have made somc allusion to the bronze remains of the Mycenaean
period, chiefly from a technical point of vievv ; the artistic side can as yet hardly
be said to be represented. But even among Mycenaean remains there occur