DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12655#0054
1
CATALOGUE OF BRONZES.
bought up for shrines or for votive offerings, and so on, according to chance.
The collections of bronze statuettes found in the Lake of Falterona (see Nos. 450,
459, 463, 614-616, and 679) and at San Mariano were no doubt all ex voto, as
the circumstances of their finding seem to shew.
With regard to their subjects, the Etruscan statuettes seem to fall into thrce
groups, which we may roughly apportion as follows :
1. Mythological types : among which the principal are : (a) Apollo (see
Reinach, Repertoire de la StaUiaire Gr. et Rom. ii. pp. 78-91) ; (b). Aphrodite
(generally in the “ Spes ” attitude, holding up her drapery in 1, hand); (r) Mars
or a warrior, a type which appears to be derived from Greece (cf. the warrior
from Laconia published in Ath. Mittheil. iii. (1878), pl. 1, fig. 2).
2. Votive figures of no mythological character : children, athletes, suppliant
figures (as Pl. xiv.), etc.
3. Decorative bronzes and genre subjects : dancers, acrobats, monsters, and
animals. These often form the supports of mirrors, handles of cistae, or parts
of candelabra.
The luxury of the Etruscans in regard to vessels and
Deeorative bronze- household furniture was, as we have already pointed out,
b° r^mirr^n ,s^aM P rover^' a^ ' n ar>tiquity. This has been amply confirmed by
’ modern discoveries, which have yielded large numbers of
bronze objects covering a period of about four centurics,
from 600 to 200 B.C. The ornamental decoration generally takes the form of
relief-work and applique ornament, as applied to vases, cistae, or mirror-cases.
The types and decoration of tripods we have already discussed ; but the
candelabra present certain features of interest. The various types may be
roughly dated. The earliest examples (of the 6th ccntury B.C.) have cross-bars
at intervals, each ending in two small branches.* In the fifth century the stem
has a small basin on the top for the lamp, and is supported by a tripod formed
of three human or animal’s feet. The stem is often ornamented with animals
climbing up it. In the fourth-century types the feet are as before, but the stem
ends in four branches terminating in buds and a central figure or group of two
figures. Finally in the third ccntury the base takes the form of a pyramidal
pedestal with a moulded stem surmounted by a bovvl. The examples in the
British Museum (589-599, 667-669, 771-781) are mostly of the second and
third types.
The bronze mirrors which have been found in such numbers in Etruscan
tombs fall into two main classes. By far the larger is that of the simple disc
with a hatidle, bearing incised designs. The other class, in which the mirror
is placed in a case with a cover, the latter being decorated with an emblema or
relief, belongs exclusively to the later period of Etruscan art (third century B.C.),
and is obviously an imitation of the Greek mirror-cases with reliefs. The
subjects on these mirror-cases form a close parallel with those on the Italian
* Cf. Milani, Musco topogr. delPEtruria, p. 27.
CATALOGUE OF BRONZES.
bought up for shrines or for votive offerings, and so on, according to chance.
The collections of bronze statuettes found in the Lake of Falterona (see Nos. 450,
459, 463, 614-616, and 679) and at San Mariano were no doubt all ex voto, as
the circumstances of their finding seem to shew.
With regard to their subjects, the Etruscan statuettes seem to fall into thrce
groups, which we may roughly apportion as follows :
1. Mythological types : among which the principal are : (a) Apollo (see
Reinach, Repertoire de la StaUiaire Gr. et Rom. ii. pp. 78-91) ; (b). Aphrodite
(generally in the “ Spes ” attitude, holding up her drapery in 1, hand); (r) Mars
or a warrior, a type which appears to be derived from Greece (cf. the warrior
from Laconia published in Ath. Mittheil. iii. (1878), pl. 1, fig. 2).
2. Votive figures of no mythological character : children, athletes, suppliant
figures (as Pl. xiv.), etc.
3. Decorative bronzes and genre subjects : dancers, acrobats, monsters, and
animals. These often form the supports of mirrors, handles of cistae, or parts
of candelabra.
The luxury of the Etruscans in regard to vessels and
Deeorative bronze- household furniture was, as we have already pointed out,
b° r^mirr^n ,s^aM P rover^' a^ ' n ar>tiquity. This has been amply confirmed by
’ modern discoveries, which have yielded large numbers of
bronze objects covering a period of about four centurics,
from 600 to 200 B.C. The ornamental decoration generally takes the form of
relief-work and applique ornament, as applied to vases, cistae, or mirror-cases.
The types and decoration of tripods we have already discussed ; but the
candelabra present certain features of interest. The various types may be
roughly dated. The earliest examples (of the 6th ccntury B.C.) have cross-bars
at intervals, each ending in two small branches.* In the fifth century the stem
has a small basin on the top for the lamp, and is supported by a tripod formed
of three human or animal’s feet. The stem is often ornamented with animals
climbing up it. In the fourth-century types the feet are as before, but the stem
ends in four branches terminating in buds and a central figure or group of two
figures. Finally in the third ccntury the base takes the form of a pyramidal
pedestal with a moulded stem surmounted by a bovvl. The examples in the
British Museum (589-599, 667-669, 771-781) are mostly of the second and
third types.
The bronze mirrors which have been found in such numbers in Etruscan
tombs fall into two main classes. By far the larger is that of the simple disc
with a hatidle, bearing incised designs. The other class, in which the mirror
is placed in a case with a cover, the latter being decorated with an emblema or
relief, belongs exclusively to the later period of Etruscan art (third century B.C.),
and is obviously an imitation of the Greek mirror-cases with reliefs. The
subjects on these mirror-cases form a close parallel with those on the Italian
* Cf. Milani, Musco topogr. delPEtruria, p. 27.