| Digital reconstructions | https://www.instagram.com/chapps/ |
| Twitter presence | https://twitter.com/chapps |
| Photography | https://www.flickr.com/photos/chappspix/ |
| Bluesky | chapps.bsky.social |
An Egyptian Amarna-era alabaster perfume bottle in the shape of a hes-vase (libation vessel), inlaid with a depiction of an Amarna princess standing on a blue lotus blossom. The blue lotus opens anew every morning with the sun. For an ancient Egyptian, the child and the flower would have been a powerful image of rebirth and rejuvenation.
The image on the side is a marvel of lapidary skill, consisting of carnelian, obsidian, gold, and colored glass inlay.
Archaeological mystery!
The Roman-era marble figure on the left, below, was recently found in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. Note the red modius-style hats! Turkish officials have identified it as the 'Three Graces', but ... they all face forward, each carrying two torches. That's three-bodied Hekate's iconography. #archaeology 🤔
Thoughts? Why identify the figures as the Graces instead of Hekate?
An elegant 18th c. porcelain jug? No! It's instead a 1st c. BCE-1st c. CE #Roman *glass* oinchoe, imitating the usual metal form of this vessel. The body was blown, but the rest was cold cut. Stunning. Certainly found in a tomb.
Met Museum (17.194.170) 🏺
📸 my own
5th c. BCE small Greek terracotta naiskos (shrine) with the god Hermes and two goddesses or 'nymphs'. They all have large shield fibulae pinning their clothes at their shoulders. Clear remains of the original pigments. #polychromy #archaeology
From Tanagra (Boeotia, Greece)
Altes Museum, Berlin
A large fresco from the villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, buried in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. Depicting a wall of simulated masonry, from which opulent garlands of fruits and leaves are suspended. A cista mystica hangs on a red cord from the mouth of a boukranion (sacrificial bull's head); a satyr mask and cymbal also hang from the garland, marking this as a Dionysian theme.
50-40 BCE. Met Museum. Photo: my own.
For #MosaicMonday, this may have originally been installed in a mausoleum. It ostensibly depicts the four seasons. Starting from top, counter-clockwise: winter, spring, summer, and fall (grapes!). An athlete is receiving a victory wreath in the center.
4th-5th c. CE. Palazzo Massimo, Rome. 📸 my own
Looking more like frozen soda, this is actually a miniature intaglio portrait of a young boy, possibly Eros (remains of wings can be seen). He clutches two pine-cones, an ear of corn and a leaf, all Dionysian symbols of rebirth.
#Roman, 2nd c. CE. #FitzwilliamMuseum, Cambridge. #archaeology