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.

    176/664
    graved or even impressed figures of an arabesque description, have been found in the most recent excavations, by which altogether the richness of the Etruscans in articles of decora- tion which was made known to us by the ancients, has re- ceived a remarkable confirmation. 2. For the Etruscan origin Vermiglioli, Lezioni di Arched, i. p. 202. Etrusker ii. s. 257. comp. also R. Rochette's Cours, p. 138. [Scarabaeus with Greek inscr. found in ^gina and also in Greece, Finlay in the Bull. 1840. p. 140. Since then many have come to light there.] To the ear- lier known chefs-d'oeuvre—the gem with the five heroes against Thebes (found at Perugia), Theseus in the infernal world, Tydeus ccTroivofcevog, Peleus squeezing the water from his hair (Winckelm. M. I.ii. n. 101.105. 106. 107. 125. Werke vii. tf. 2. 3. a similar figure, Micali, tv. 116, 13.), are now added Hercules slaying Cycnus (Impronti d. Inst, i, 22. INTicaH, tv. 116, 1), Hercules sorrowfully musing (Micali, tv. 116, 5), Hercules opening the cask of Pholus (MicaU, tv. 116, 7), and others, found parti- cularly at Volci and Clusium. [The so-called Etruscan gem-border.] 4. There are various of these engravings on gold-rings given in the Impronti d. Inst. I. 57—62, III, 58—62, very Phoenician, and in Micali, tv. 46, 19—23; in all there is exhibited a striving at monstrous combi- nations, which took advantage especially of Babylonio-Phoenician works of the kind. . There is in Micali, tv. 45. 46, a collection of gold buckles (one very large put together in a rude taste, and adorned with engraved combatants, lions, birds ill-proportioned in design) and clasps (which are sometimes very finely decorated with sphinxes and lions), necklaces, and pendants (among them Egyptian Phthas-idols of enamelled terracotta, in Etruscan chasing), diadems, chains, rings, and other articles of decoration. Comp. Gerhard, Hyperbor. Rom. Studien, s. 240. A neck ornament, Mon. d. Inst, ii, 7. Annah vi. p. 243. Discoveries at Caere, Bull. 1836. p. 60. 1839. p. 19. 72 (this last similar to Micali, 45, 3). [The different crowns and garlands, sacerdotal breast-plates, the necklaces and bracelets, rings and clasps, and so forth of the new papal collection, Mus. Gregor. i. tv. 67—91. Grifi Mon. di Cere, tv. 1. 2. P. Secchi Tesoretto di Etr. arredi in oro del Cav. Campana, Bull. 1846. p. 3. The Campana collection is rich in the most curious articles, which are not confined to the Etrus- can, and which display a skUl and deUcacy of workmanship now unat- tainable, although it is inferior to the Mus. Gregor. in numbers. The bracelet mostly as an Itahc national ornament accordmg to K. F. Her- mann Gott. Gel. Anz. 1843. s. 1158. 1844. s. 504. Schiassi sopra una ar- milla d'oro del M. di Bologna. Bol. 1815. 8vo.] 1 176 In coins the Etruscans had at first their native system —cast pieces of copper, perhaps originally four-cornered, which 2 represented the pound with its parts. The types are some- times very rude; they show, however, an acquamtance witli Greek coin-figures of ^gina, Corinth, and other places (tor- toises, Pegasus, shells, and the like); many of them have ever. 3 a noble Greek style. Etruria came nearer to Greece in hei silver and gold coins, but such were struck only by a tc\T cities.