CAELATU´RA
CAELATU´RA (
τορευτική).
The words
τορευτικὴ and
caelatura, derived respectively from
τορεὺς and caelum (lit. “graver's tool” ),
seem, on the whole, to be synonymous in their import, and signify in a
general sense the arts employed in the production of ornamental works in
metal, whether in relief or in intaglio. These terms therefore include such
processes as repoussé, chasing, engraving, and other operations
employed by the ancient artist, whether in jewellers' and goldsmiths' work,
or in the application of the non-precious metals (especially bronze) to the
purposes of ornamenting different objects, such as armour, mirrors,
&c. The terms are strictly and commonly confined to works in
metal, though we occasionally find the expression
caelatura used, by analogy, of work in
stone and in other non-metallic substances. One important branch of
metal-work, that of statuary, is not, however, comprehended under
τορευτικὴ and
caelatura [
STATUARIA
ARS], though it may be observed that many of the bronze statuettes
which have come down to us from antiquity are really only the detached
ornaments of different household utensils, such as mirrors and candelabra.
(O. Müller,
Handbuch der Archäol. (ed.
Welcker), § § 85, 120, 173, 311, 312; Saglio, art.
Caelatura, note 2, in Daremberg and Saglio,
Dict. des Ant.; Marquardt,
Römische
Privatalterthümer (Marquardt and Mommsen, 1882, vol.
vii., p. 664).)
The ancient literary sources for the history of ornamental metal work are
somewhat scanty. The chief passage recording the names of Toreutic artists
is Pliny,
Plin. Nat. 33. §
§ 154-157, in which reference is made to various toreuticians
eminent especially for working in silver. This list includes names which
appear to range in date from about B.C. 420 or 400 to the time of Nero; the
most famous artist mentioned being Mentor, who lived not later than B.C.
356. Other artists of whom we possess some record in the authors belong to
the age of Alexander the Great, to the period of the Diadochi, to the time
of Pompey, and to the earlier days of the Roman empire. A complete list of
the passages in the ancient writers which refer to toreutic artists will be
found in Overbeck's
Antiken Schriftquellen, under the head
“Toreutik” (pp. 417-425); compare also Brunn,
Gesch.
der griech. Künstler, ii. pp. 397-412 ( “Die
Toreuten” ). It is, however,
[p. 1.324]from the
metallic objects actually extant in the jewel rooms and bronze rooms of
great museums that the history of the toreutic art can best be learnt, and
the present article will therefore treat principally of some of the more
important classes of these monuments, so far as this is possible within
moderate limits.
The earliest specimens of ornamental metalwork discovered on Greek soil are
those found by Dr. Schliemann at Hissarlik in the Troad, consisting of a
large number of objects in gold, such as bracelets, ear-rings, and diadems.
Among the specimens of which a detailed description will be found in
Schliemann's
Ilios (London, 1880) may be
mentioned the following:--Nos. 873, 874,
bracelets,
consisting of a thick gold plate piped with wire, and adorned with spiral
ornaments of gold wire soldered on the plate (cp. Nos. 690-693); No. 685,
diadem, composed principally of hexagonal leaves
of gold; Nos. 834, 835,
hairpins; No. 834,
consisting of a quadrangular plate ornamented with spirals of gold wires
soldered on, like the bracelets just mentioned; gold
disks (p. 500), of which No. 903 represents a flower of star form,
in repoussé work (see also
Ilios, p.
42, No. 14, and p. 453 ff.). The appellation “Treasure of
Priam” given by the discoverer to a large class of these objects is
misleading, inasmuch as the art described in the Homeric poems is quite
certainly of a more advanced character. The Hissarlik metal work is, in
fact, the product of a half-barbarous people, and its simple and unambitious
character may be discerned in the preference for such ornamentation as the
spiral (a form which is naturally suggested by the curling of gold wire),
and in the infrequent representations of animal forms. An early though more
advanced style is represented by the objects discovered by Schliemann at
Mycenae (Schliemann's
Mycenae, London, 1878:
cf. Newton,
Essays on Art, p. 246 ff.; Prof. P. Gardner,
Journal of Hellenic Studies, i. p. 94 ff. (1880);
Milchhoefer,
Die Anfänge der Kunst in Griechenland
(1883), pp. 5-38), which may be approximately assigned to a date not later
than B.C. 1000. The Mycenaean objects are, on the whole, the work of rude
local artists, scarcely touched as yet by Oriental influence: the specimens
in gold, which are extremely numerous, consist principally of plaques in
repoussé work, bowls, diadems, and sepulchral masks rudely
imitating the human countenance. Round bosses and other circular patterns,
and especially combinations of spirals, are the basis of most of the
patterns, but floral forms and imitations of insects and of marine life are
also employed. Among the most instructive objects may be mentioned the
following: (1) a
mould of granite, showing fourteen
different types of ear-rings and other ornaments, all of which were probably
cast in gold and silver (Schliemann's
Mycenae,
p. 108; cf. Nos. 162, 163). (2) Gold
diadems found
on the heads of corpses, especially the crown, No. 281 (2 ft. 1 in. long),
which is covered with shield-like ornaments in repoussé, and has
attached to it thirty-six leaves ornamented in a like manner. The diadems
are generally piped with copper wire to give them greater solidity (cp. Nos.
282-284). (3) Lozenge-shaped
buttons of wood plated
with gold, ornamented with intaglio and repoussé work (cp. Nos.
377-386): among these, Nos. 414-420 represent stars, flowers or crosses, and
No. 421 has a spiral ornamentation. (4) Perforated ornaments of gold with
engravings in intaglio: Nos. 253-255 represent a man struggling with a lion,
and two warriors contending with a lion. (5) Gold cylinder adorned with rock
crystal (No. 451); a dragon of gold with scales of rock crystal (No. 452).
(6) Scabbards of swords, representing a lion-hunt, winged monsters, fish and
plants. The manes of the lions are of red gold; their bodies of a paler tint
in the same metal. A distinction of colour is also observed between the sea
and the fish swimming in it, and further variety is obtained by the use of
enamel in the background. (See Koumanoudes in the
Ἀθήναιον, 1880, p. 162, and 1881, p. 309; Köhler
in
Mittheil. d. D. Inst. in Athen, 1882, p. 241.) For a
description of the archaic bronze and gold objects found at Spata in Attica,
the reader must be referred to the
Bulletin de Corr. hell.
ii. p. 185, and reff. there.
The next important epoch in the history of our subject has been denominated
the Gracco-Phoenician, an epoch when the rude genius of the Greeks set
itself to learn in the comparatively advanced artistic school of the
Phoenicians. This is the period of art described, though with some poetic
embellishment, in the Homeric poems, in which compositions the higher works
of metallic art are spoken of as coming from a foreign and especially a
Phoenician source (cf. Brunn,
Die Kunst bei Homer;
Milchhoefer,
Die Anfänge d. Kunst in Griechenl., pp.
138-156; Riedenauer,
Handwerk in homer. Zeiten; and
especially Helbig,
Das Homerische Epos, 1884). Thus it is
from the king of Cyprus that Agamemnon receives the present of his cuirass
(
Il. 11.19), and from Egypt that
Menelaus brings back tripods and the basket of Helen (
Od. 4.126 ff.). The crater destined by
Menelaus for Telemachus comes to him from the king of the Sidonians (
Od. 4.616;
Il.
23.741), and it is the Sidonians who made the silver crater given
by Achilles as a prize at the Funeral Games. Even the elaborate Homeric
description of the Shield of Achilles may be shown to have had a tangible
basis in works of Phoenician art (see the restoration in A. S. Murray's
History of Greek Sculpture, 1880, chap. iii.). This
Phoenician art, as revealed to us by the archaeological discoveries of
recent years, was not in itself original, but was formed by a curious
blending of the art of the Egyptians and the Assyrians. It may best be
studied in the numerous metal bowls that have been found in several
localities, especially Cyprus and Italy, which were in early days in
relations with the Phoenician traders (cp. Clermont--Ganneau,
L'Imagerie Phénicienne, 1880; Cesnola,
Cyprus, London, 1877; Calonna-Ceccaldi,
Monuments ant. de Chypre, 1882; De Longpérier,
Musée Natpoléon III., &c.).
The epoch generally assigned for the execution of these bowls is the 7th or
8th century B.C., though the manufacture of them
according to traditional patterns may have continued to a later period. In
the artistic designs of these vessels it is especially important to note the
arrangement of the subjects in concentric zones, and the frequent mingling
of Assyrian and Egyptian elements. Thus, in the silver patera found at
Amathus in Cyprus
[p. 1.325](Calonna-Ceccaldi,
Rev.
Archéol., 1876, i. p. 26; Cesnola,
Cyprus, pl. xix.), the innermost zone of ornament is formed
by winged sphinxes wearing the uraeus; in the next zone occurs another
Egyptian object, the scarabaeus holding the solar disk, by the side of which
we find two figures wearing an Assyrian costume, and having between them the
familiar sacred tree of the Assyrian sculptures: the outer zone is filled
with scenes of war, in which various costumes and arms may be distinguished.
Again, in one zone of a remarkable bowl from Palestrina (Clermont-Ganneau,
L'Imag. Phénic., pl. i.) we have a succession
of hunting scenes of thoroughly Assyrian style, while as the central
ornament of the vessel there appear figures of a distinctly Egyptian type.
Another feature characteristic of the art described by Homer is the
application of metallic plaques to adorn the surfaces of various objects,
such as the scabbards of swords and the wood of chariots (
ἐμπαιστικὴ τέχνη,
Athen. 11.488b; Eust. ad
Il. 11.773: cf.
Od.
8.404,
11.610;
Paus. 1.20,
1,
3.18,
7,
9.12,
4, &c.).
Good extant specimens of plaques employed in this class of work may be found
in the archaic bronze plates in the Glyptothek at Munich, which were found
near Perugia, and probably served to ornament the wood of a chariot (H.
Brunn,
Beschreib. der Glyptothek, No. 32 f.; Micali,
Monum. di ant. pop. Ital., 1833, pl. xxviii., xxxi.): the
British Museum also possesses from the same find the fragment of an archaic
work in relief, formed of very thin plates of silver hammered out and joined
together. The subject represents two men on horseback, riding side by side
at full speed, and underneath the horses a third figure, prostrate. The
figures are in high relief, and the details of the hair, the borders of the
drapery, &c., are of thin plates of gold laid on the silver.
(Millingen,
Anc. uned. Mon. ii., pl. 14; Brit. Mus.
Guide to the Bronze Room. For various specimens of early
metal-work found at Olympia, see Furtwängler,
Die
Bronzefunde aus Olympia, Berlin, 1880.)
As specimens of
early jewellery we may refer to the
objects of gold (now in the Louvre and British Museum) found by Salzmann at
Camirus in Rhodes, which may be regarded as products of Phoenician art in
the 8th century B.C. (Salzmann,
Nécropole de Camiros; Rev.
Archéol. N. S. t. 4.1861, p. 466
f.: cf. 1862, t. vi. p. 264, and t. vii. (1863).) As an example of
these we may take the pale gold plaques which belonged to a necklace and
which are embossed with the alternate designs of a Centaur of primitive type
with Egyptian head-dress, seizing a hind, and a winged female figure, the
goddess Artemis or Anaitis, holding a lion and a panther. Another plate is
ornamented with a recumbent lion of Assyrian style: the mane is formed by
massing together minute granules of gold, while the ears are marked out by
lines formed of similar granules. On the same plaque is the head of an
eagle, adorned, like the lion, with granulated designs. From the plaque
itself are suspended pomegranates, chainlets, and heads of Egyptian style.
Of early jewellery found in Greece Proper we may notice the gold studs or
ear-rings found in 1860 at Megara (Lenormant,
Les
premières Civilisations, ii. p. 384): they are
decorated in repoussé, with human heads of Egyptian character,
facing. Another interesting specimen of archaic jewellery, stated to have
been found at Athens and belonging probably to the first half of the 6th
century B.C., is an earring published in the
Journal of Hellenic Studies (vol. ii. p. 324), on the
oblong pendant of which is represented side by side a pair of female
figures, beaten out in relief. The arms of both these figures are
straightened closely to their sides, and their dress and attitude, though
very archaic, present a resemblance to the Canephori of the Erechtheum.
Various other archaic gold ornaments from Corinth, Athens, Camirus, Melos,
Delos, Etruria, Lydia, &c., will be found described in the
Arch. Zeitung, Jahrg. xlii. pp. 90-94, 99-114; and in
Bull. de Corr. hell., iii. p. 129 f. We may note in these
a gradual development from simple geometric ornamentation to groups of men
and animals, and mythological subjects.
Our knowledge of the jewellery of the fine period of Greek art is mainly
derived from two great sources--the excavations in the tombs of Southern
Russia and in those of Etruria. Of the Etruscan jewellery, the Louvre, the
Vatican, and the British Museum possess numerous and choice examples. The
objects from Southern Russia, which belong to a great extent to the 4th
century B.C., are now in the Museum of the
Hermitage, and may be studied in the elaborate
Comptes rendus de la
Commission archéologique de St.
Pétersbourg, and in the
Antiquités du
Bosphore Cimmérien. The great European
jewel-collections contain specimens, unrivalled in workmanship, of all the
various objects of personal adornment--necklaces with pendants, ear-rings,
bracelets, brooches, &c. The main effect in this jewellery is due to
“the combination of small figures and flowers in
repoussé work, with fine filigree, granulated patterns and
vitreous inlays.” Precious stones, such as garnets, are sometimes
introduced, but in the best age the jeweller made comparatively little use
of them. The ancient jeweller is distinguished by his delicate manipulation
of the gold, his mastery of modelling, his extraordinary minuteness of work,
and by the technical skill which produced the granulation (i. e. the
soldering of extremely minute particles of gold on a leaf of gold), which is
especially noticeable in the jewellery of Etruria. (Cp. Castellani,
Communication faite à l'Académie des Inscr.
et Belles-Lettres, 20 Dècembre, 1860;
Dell'
oreficeria italiana, Roma, 1872; B. Bucher,
Geschichte
der technischen Künste, p. 139 ff.; Newton,
Essays on Art and Archaeology, p. 373
ff.; Charles de Linas,
Les Origines de
l'orfévrerie cloisonnée (1879).) The
jewellery from Etruria, which in its earlier period betrays an Oriental
influence, is in its later and finest stage so thoroughly Greek in character
as to be a fair exponent of the capabilities of the Greek jewellers. For
details as to the form, &c., of the various objects of personal
ornament, the reader is referred to the separate articles in this
Dictionary; but as furnishing a sample of the fertile invention and
surpassing skill of the Greek workman, we may here refer to two classes of
ear-rings of which the Hermitage has a rich collection, and of which there
are good specimens in the Gold Ornament Room of the British Museum. The
first class, which is the simpler and perhaps somewhat the earlier in
[p. 1.326]date, consists of ear-rings formed of twisted wire
and terminating at one end in the head of an animal, especially a lion. The
second class consists of the specimens attached to the ear by a hook, which
is covered by a round disk. The disk itself is generally adorned with some
subject suitable for a medallion, such as a full face in relief, and beneath
it are suspended one or more small figures. For these pendants Victories are
often chosen, and an especial favourite is a tiny figure of Eros holding
various objects, such as a scroll or a musical instrument. As exquisite
specimens may be noticed a pair (
Compte rendu de la Comm. arch. St.
Pétersb., 1870-71, pl. vi., figs. 11, 12; cf.
Compte rendu, 1868, pl. i., figs. 1-3) composed of a
rosette, from which hang three chains, the two outermost terminating in
pendants: from the middle chain hangs a goose, inlaid about the feathers
with granulated work. In the centre of the rosette is a garnet, from which
radiate leaves in blue enamel, forming a star pattern. The minuteness of the
work is especially noticeable in another ear-ring of this class
(
Antiq. du Bosphore, pl. xii.
a, fig. 5 a), on which, below the disk, is a chariot with four
horses, flanked by Victories. In the chariot are two figures, and below the
group is an ornament from which are suspended vases and chains. (Cf. also
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1863, pl. 162;
Bijoux du
Muséc Nap. III., No. 112.) The jewellery actually
intended for ordinary wear must be distinguished from that made for
sepulchral purposes and for use on some exceptional occasion. The fine
ear-rings found in the Koul Oba (
Antiq. du Bosphore, pl.
xix.) and those from the Crimean tomb of the Priestess of Demeter
(
Compte rendu, St. Pétersb., 1865, pl. ii.)
could never have been worn in the usual way, but must have been suspended
from the head-dress on festal days. The latter consist of large medallions
representing Thetis or a Nereid on a dolphin, carrying the armour of
Achilles, and from them there hang pendants and chainlets. Most European
museums--as the Louvre, Hermitage, Vatican, and British Museum--possess
specimens of the remarkable class of jewellery made principally for the
adornment of the corpse; namely, the gold crowns composed of extremely thin
leaves of gold, imitating the foliage of different trees. (Cf.
Bijoux
du Mus. Nap. III., p. 9 ff.;
Antiq. du Bosphore,
pl. iii.-v.;
Mus. Gregor. i., pl. cxxvii. f.) A
very fine specimen of jewellery not intended for wear is the votive gold
crown found at Armento, and now at Munich. It is composed of branches of oak
intertwined with garlands of flowers, while winged figures are placed amidst
the foliage. (Arneth,
Monum. des Antik. Cabinets in Wien, p.
41, pl. xiii.; Avellino,
Memorie dell' Academia Ercolanese,
1.1872, p. 207 if.; Gerhard,
Antike Bildwerke, i. x.）
Another important branch of the toreutic art is constituted by the production
of gold and silver vases, elaborately adorned--generally with reliefs in
repoussé, or with ornaments separately made and soldered or
riveted to the vessel [EMBLEMA CRUSTA]. (Cf.
Plin. Nat. 33.139, &c.; Ovid,
Metam. iii., 5.80;
Juv.
1.76;
Quint. Inst. 11,
47.) With the increase of luxury under the
successors of Alexander, this branch of art began to assume especial
prominence (cf. Athenaeus,
4.129,
30;
Plin. Nat.
33.154, &c.); unfortunately the vases now extant do not
enable us to judge very satisfactorily as to the merit of the Greek
toreutae, inasmuch as they mostly belong to the Imperial age when artistic
work of this class had either quite declined (
Plin. Nat. 33.157) or had been vitiated by the use of
exaggerated relief and the employment of precious stones. (Cf. Miarquardt
and Mommsen, vol. vii. p. 686; Linas,
Orig. de l'orfév.
cloisonnée, 1877, t. 1.100.3.3; Thédenat
and Villefosse in
Gaz. Arch. 1884 and 1885, “Les
trésors de vaisselle d'argent trouvés en
Gaule.” ) At the same period, vases by the great Greek masters were
collected by the Romans (
Plin. Nat.
33.147 ; ib. 157;
Juv. 1.76;
Mart. 8.6. 1,
4.39,
14.93, &c.), and were doubtless
copied with more or less fidelity by the Roman artists. (Cf.
Plin. Nat. 34.47; Michaelis,
Das
Corsinische Silbergefäss, p. 19.) Among the more
important vessels in the precious metals now extant should be mentioned the
following:--(1) The magnificent silver vase in the Hermitage Museum which
was found in the tomb of a Scythian king at Nicopolis (
Compte
rendu, St. Pétersbourg, 1864, pl. i., ii., p. 11 ff.). It
has the form of an amphora, and on its upper part are friezes of Scythians
and animals, in high relief; leaves and flowers adorning the body of the
vessel. The decoration is partly in repoussé, and partly consists
in ornaments, like the lion-masks and the head of a winged horse, separately
made and gilded and then soldered on. This vase has. been assigned to the
4th century B.C. (2) Silver vase in the Antiquarium of Munich, ornamented
externally with a circular frieze, in which are represented Trojan captives,
in low relief. (Cf. Thiersch,
Abhandl. d. bair. Academie, Philol.
Classe, 5.1849, p. 111.) (3) The Corsini vase, on which see the
Memoir by Michaelis,
Das Corsinische Silbergefäss.
(4) Specimens in the Berlin Museum from the silver Treasure found near
Hildesheim in Hanover (Wieseler,
Der Hildesheimer Silberfund,
and reff. in
Gaz. Arch. 1884, 266, 267), some of which go
back to the time of Augustus or earlier. They have much executional merit,
but present the Roman characteristics of exuberant ornament and exaggerated
relief. (5) Specimens in the Bibliothèque Nationale from the
Treasure discovered at Bernay in France: the vases are of varying merit and
differ in date; one class being ornamented in very prominent
repoussé, the other in lower relief with slight and delicate
lines (Chabouillet,
Catal. gén. des Camées,
etc., de la Bibliothèque Nationale (1858), pp.
418-457 ;
Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. iii., p. 96 ff.;
Gaz. Arch. 1884, 344). (6) The gold patera of Rennes,
into which are inserted gold coins ranging from Hadrian to Geta. The bottom
of the vase is adorned with a large medallion executed in
repoussé, and bordered by a wreath of laurel leaves in low
relief. (7) Silver vases found at Pompeii and now in the Museum at Naples
(Quaranta,
Di quattordici vasi d'argento disotterrati in
Pompei). Silver goblet in the Museum at Naples, found at
Herculaneum, on which is represented the Apotheosis of Homer (Millingen,
Anc. uned. Monum. ii. pl. 13; Zahn,
Schönste Ornam. in Pompei, 3.28). This list may
be concluded with a reference to the specimens in the celebrated silver
treasure discovered at Rome in 1793, and now in the British
[p. 1.327]Museum. It consists of caskets, vases, trappings, and ornaments
of silver, and was probably executed for the most part about the end of the
5th century A.D. The figures and ornaments on most of the objects are
generally embossed and chased, and gilding is applied to the salient parts.
The figures, as might be expected at so late a period, are coarsely executed
and of clumsy proportions. (Visconti,
Opere
Varie, ed. Labus, Milan, 1827, i. p. 210; British Museum
Guide to the Blacas Collection, 1867, pp. 24-27.)
To the examples of ornamental metal-work which have now been mentioned in
this article, and which are principally in gold and silver, must be added
certain specimens in bronze which are adorned (1) with engraved designs, (2)
with figures in relief. A remarkable specimen of archaic Greek engraving is
found on the bronze cuirass discovered in the bed of the Alpheios, and
photographed in the
Bulletin de Corr. hell., 1883, p. 1, pll.
i.-iii. Besides figures of animals, the design shows a group of six human
figures. Engraved designs occur most frequently upon the circular metal
disks used as mirrors by the ancients, the largest class of which comes from
Etruria. Though on some of the Etruscan mirrors the drawings are of a
masterly character, the greater number are executed loosely and without much
regard to beauty of composition. (See Gerhard,
Etruskische
Spiegel, Berlin, 1841: cf. also the incised friezes of the Etruscan
Cistae, Gerhard,
op.
cit. i. pp. 1-73; H. Brunn,
Annali d. Inst. Arch.
Rom. xxxiv. pp. 5-22, ib. xxxvi. pp. 356-76; Scnöne, ib.
xxxviii. p. 150 ff., and xl. pp. 413, 421; Brit. Mus.
Guide to the
Bronze Room,
“Cistae.” ) Engravings on mirrors of purely Greek work are
rare: amongst the most beautiful examples may be cited the mirror
representing the Genius of the Cock Fights (Musée de Lyon), and
the specimen with the hero Corinthus crowned by a female who personifies the
Corinthian colony of Leucas. (Cf. A. Dumont,
Bulletin de Corresp.
hellén. i. (1877), pp. 108-115;
Monuments
grecs de l'Assoc. des Etudes grecques, 1873.)
The covers of the mirrors of box-like form--mostly found in Greece
proper--offer favourable specimens of reliefs executed in bronze. Several of
them belong to a good period of Greek art: their subjects, as a rule, are
borrowed from the cycles of Aphrodite and of Dionysos. Fine examples of
Greek repoussé work in bronze are also to be seen in the plaques
with figures in relief which once served to ornament armour or other
objects. Good specimens of these come from the finds at Dodona (Carapanos,
Dodone et ses ruines, p. 33 ff.; cp. ib. p. 187 ff.), and
among them may be especially mentioned the plaque in repoussé,
which perhaps adorned a cuirass, representing the contest between Apollo and
Heracles for the possession of the Delphic Tripod. This work has been
assigned to the 4th century B.C.; the treatment of
the figures being archaistic rather than genuinely archaic. (Carapanos,, pl.
xvi.) Another remarkable plaque from Dodona which may be assigned to the
same century adorned the cheek-piece of a helmet, and portrays in relief the
combat of Pollux with Lynceus. (Carapanos, pl. xv.) Lastly, there must be
mentioned the bronze plaques in the British Museum found near the river
Siris, in Lucania. They formerly served as ornaments to mask the buckles of
a cuirass, and consist of two groups in very high relief, the subject of
each being a combat between a Greek warrior and an Amazon. They were
probably executed by some artist of the school of Scopas, and are remarkable
for their masterly composition and modelling as well as for the refined
execution of their details. (See P. O. Brönsted,
The Bronzes
of Siris, published by the Dilettanti Society, 1836; cf. Brit.
Mus.
Guide to the Bronze Room.）
Authorities.--A comprehensive treatise on the ornamental metal
work of the Greeks and Romans, based on a complete examination of the
monumental and literary remains, is still a desideratum. At present, the
details have to be gathered from a number of archaeological works, of which
it would not be practicable to give an exhaustive list here; but references
to the most important sources of information will be found in the text of
this article.
[W--K. W--H.]
