Sunday, November 1, 2015

Gaze

Greek
Eye from bronze statue
5th-2nd century BC
Getty

Greek
Marble libation vessel carved in the shape of a pelican-foot seashell
425 BC
Getty

Ancient survivors from the long-ago Greek past and from the long-ago Etruscan past and from the long-ago Roman past. Curious objects in marble were somewhat more likely to survive over the course of many centuries than anything made of bronze because bronze objects, when found, were likely to be melted down. By one accidental route or another, these artefacts are among the few that (so far) have escaped destruction. And they have little enough in common, truly, except the one great fact that all are for the present preserved on an alien continent at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Roman
Bronze relief fragment of two men
AD 50-75
Getty

Greek
Marble funerary lion
380 BC
Getty

Greek
Marble funerary lion
350 BC
Getty

Etruscan
Bronze votive statuette of Hercle
320-280 BC
Getty 

Gallo-Roman
Bronze statuette of Mercury
AD 120-140
Getty

Roman
Marble torso of Actaeon
1st-2nd century AD
Getty

Greek
Marble anthemion of grave stele
320 BC
Getty

Roman
Bronze krater stand
before AD 79
Getty

Greek
Bronze kalpis
350-325 BC
Getty

Greek
Marble head of a young woman
320 BC
Getty

Roman
Bronze thymiaterion [incense burner] representing a singer seated on an altar
before AD 50
Getty

Greek
Marble grave naiskos of Apollonia
100 BC
Getty

Roman
Bronze portrait bust
AD 90-110
Getty

Roman
Bronze eagle
AD 100-300
Getty