Ancient art and its remains, or, A manual of the archaeology of art / By C.O. Müller.

  • Karl Otfried Müller
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ancient art and its remains, or, A manual of the archaeology of art / By C.O. Müller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    173/664
    placed in the public Museum there. Bull. 1840. p. 164. Mem. d. I. iii, 41. 42. Ann. xiv. p. 53. Micali, M. I. 1844. tv. 9. 10; on the bottom a Me- dusa, 16 lights around, and as many figures, satyrs and sirens alternate- ly; 170 Tuscan pounds in weight. Plin. xxxiv, 8. placuere et lychnuchi pensiles in delubris—also in tombs. Tripod from Vulci, Luynes Nouv. Ann. de I'lnst. Archeol. ii. p. 237. pi. 24. 51 tripods in pi. C] 3. The so-called paterae, as mystic mirrors, are treated off in greatest detail by Inghir. ii. p. 7 sqq. R. Rochette, M. I. p. 187; however, the use of mirrors in the mysteries of the Etruscans has not yet been point- ed out; the author holds them to be mirrors (^i^Axa 'iaoTrr^a) which were put into the grave with the dead among other utensils and treasures of life {kts^kt^cctx). Gott. G. A. 1828. s. 870. 1830. s. 953. [No one any longer doubts that they were mirrors, neither will the distinction into domestic and mystical hold good. Only Micali defended the paterte and adheres to them even in his last work, as Thiersch did in the Jahresberichte der k. Berl. Akad. of 1829-31. vii. s. 53 f. Lanzi, L. Vescovali and Inghirami re- cognised them as mirrors, and such are often found painted on vases, for example, with judgments of Paris and in wall paintings (Pitt. d'Ercol. iii, 26). Zahn New Series ii, 10.] There are also extant mirror-covers in a similar style. (Ao(p£;ov ar^oyyv-Xov Aristoph. Nub. 761. -hv(pio'j Hesych.) The figures on the reverse are mostly but outlines, seldom in relief, generally in a later, sometimes effeminate, sometimes exaggerated style; the sub- jects mythological, and in great part erotic; but also often treated merely as an indifferent ornament. Many in Lanzi, Saggio ii. p. 191. tv. 6 sqq. Bianconi, De Pateris Antiquis. Bon. 1814. There are some of the Borgia and Townley paterae engraved on separate leaves. Inghir. ii. PI. i. and ii. Micali, tv. 36, 47, 49, 50. The finest specimen [of pure Greek art] is the mirror found at Volci, in the possession of Gerhard, where, in a design full of soul and grace, Dionysus, in the presence of the Pythian Apollo, embraces Semele, who had been brought up from the infernal world. See Gerhard, Dionysus and Semele. B. 1833. On others, see §. 351, 3. 367, 3. 371, 2. 384, 2. 396, 2. 410, 4. 413, 2. 414, 2. 4. 415, 1. 430, 1. and elsewhere. The Paljestrian cista from San Luca now in the Mus. Gregor. i, 37. [Gerhard Etr. Spiegel 1. 2. Th. Gotter- bilder 2. Th. Heroenbilder 1843. 1845. 4to. 240 Taf. E. Braun Tages u. des Hercules u. der Minerva heilige Hochzeit. Miinchen 1830. fol. comp. Rhein. Mus. i. s. 98. Mus. Gregor. i. tv. 22—36.] These mirrors are sometimes found in the sepulchres with other arti- cles of dress and the bath (as, according to Pliny xxxvi, 27, specula et Btrigiles were placed in the graves), in little round boxes of embossed bronze, which are now also called cistce mysticce. See especially Lami, Sopra le ciste mistiche, and Inghir. ii. p. 47. tv. 3. [Plautus Mostell i, 3, 91. cum ornamentis arcula.] On the lids of these stand figures as handles; claws of animals form the feet; engraved designs decorate ves- sel and lid. Most of them come from Prseneste, where they seem to have been preserved in the temple of Fortune as consecrated gifts from women. The best known are: 1. That adorned with beautiful and interesting re- presentations from the mythus of the Argonauts (The landing in Bithy- nia. Amyous and Polydeuces), with the inscription, Novios Plautios med Romaifecid, Dindia Macolnia filea dedit; from which we must assign the work to aljout the year 500 «. ii,. M. Kircheriani Aerea i. The Mag-