'Eye-Like Radiance': the Depiction of Gemstones in Roman Wall Painting

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Article ‘Eye-Like Radiance’: The Depiction of Gemstones in Roman Wall Painting

Ruth Allen Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, London WC1E 7HU, UK; [email protected] Received: 22 February 2019; Accepted: 26 April 2019; Published: 9 May 2019

Abstract: The study of ornament in Greek and Roman art has been the focus of increasing scholarly interest over the last decade, with many publications shedding new light on the dynamics of ornatus in antiquity, and the discourses that shaped and situated it. Through an analysis of the depiction of gemstones in Roman wall painting, this article demonstrates the importance of ornamental details both to the mechanics of two-dimensional representation and to the interpretation of the images they adorned. I argue that by evoking the material qualities and sensual pleasures of real precious stones, painted gems served on the one hand to enhance the illusory reality of wall painting, and on the other to extol the delights of luxury and reﬁnement—that is, of ornamentation itself.

Keywords: Roman; wall painting; gemstone; ornament; luxury; materiality; surface decoration

1. Introduction Scholarship on Roman wall painting has traditionally privileged the figurative over the decorative. This has often been motivated by a desire to recover the appearance of lost Greek panel paintings, but even studies that have stressed the aesthetic and metapoetic sophistication of Roman frescoes on their own terms, and that have demonstrated their importance as a means of displaying wealth and social status within the Roman house, have focused for the most part on depictions of mythological narratives—or else on illusionistic architectural vistas—isolating both from the painted decorative details that accompanied their representation.1 If ornament has been considered in these studies, it has more often been seen as a tool for stylistic analysis and dating than given representational agency of its own (Squire 2018, p. 21). It is clear from the ancient texts, however, that Roman viewers of painted frescoes did not separate figure from decoration—or work from frame—in the way that much of this scholarship would have us believe (Platt and Squire 2017). Of course, this is not a new observation, nor is this paper the first to think harder about what ornament did in Roman painting. Work on the Egyptian motifs that appear in frescoes of the first centuries BCE and CE has long emphasised the ways in which ornamental details might communicate aspects of political or religious identity and engage viewers in discourses on luxury (see Pearson 2015, with bibliography). Likewise, the last decade has produced much valuable research on many of the non-figurative and seemingly marginal features of ancient mural schemes, including ‘still lives’ and the trompe l’oeil depiction of objects (Bergmann 2010; O’Connell 2015), imitation marble (Fant 2007; McAlpine 2014; Platt 2018), painted frames (Platt 2009; Squire 2017), and the related topic of inlaid wall ornaments (Powers 2011). Part of a larger-scale reappraisal of ornament

1 The scholarship on Roman painting is substantial, but typical approaches include (Ling 1991, pp. 128–35; Wallace-Hadrill 1994; Bergmann 1995; Elsner 1995, pp. 21–48; Hales 2003; Leach 2004; Croisille 2005, pp. 23, 169–92; Lorenz 2008; Marvin 2008, pp. 194–205; Newby 2016). For critique see, inter alia, (Swift 2009; Powers 2011; Rouveret 2015; Platt and Squire 2017; Squire 2018).

Arts 2019, 8, 60; doi:10.3390/arts8020060 www.mdpi.com/journal/arts Arts 2019, 8, 60 2 of 26 in Graeco-Roman material culture (e.g., Schultz and von den Hoff 2009; Swift 2009; Lepinksi and McFadden 2015; Dietrich and Squire 2018), which itself follows a broad rehabilitation of ornamental style in various disciplines, from architecture to film studies,2 this has stressed the importance of ornament to both the visual and socio-political dynamics of mural art, from the celebration of material splendour (e.g., O’Connell 2015), to the expression of local identity and collective memory (McAlpine 2014), to complicating the relationship between representation and reality (Platt 2009, 2017). Much of this new scholarship problematises the influence of Immanuel Kant’s 1790 Critique of Judgment and its ‘Analytic of the Beautiful’, which, by distinguishing the purity of form from the empirical pleasures of matter, condemned ornament—defined in terms of applied colour, gilding, or drapery—as sensuous, superficial, and subsidiary (Kant 1987, sct. 14). Informing the Modernist rejection of decoration as both aesthetically and morally suspect (Trilling 2003, p. 26), Kant’s assessment likewise contributed to the misleading prioritisation of (primarily sculptural) form over surface style in traditional approaches to ancient art (Platt 2018, p. 241). However, as Nicola Barham has recently argued, the Roman concept of ornamentum tracked polysemously across a variety of contexts and registers and was applied to all furnishings and media, including mural painting and sculpture, promoting ornamentation as a mode for amplifying the status and honour of the object or surface that it adorned (Barham 2018; Platt 2018, p. 244; see also Guest 2015, pp. 21–169). In Latin, the related verb ‘ornare’ carries meanings as diverse as ‘to equip’, ‘to embellish’, and ‘to furnish with arms’, suggesting that to add decoration in Rome was also to amplify, protect, and perfect. Where Barham and others look to collapse the dichotomy between ornamentum and figura, however, this paper takes a different approach. Locating an ornament’s pictorial value precisely in its superficiality, it reconsiders Kant’s claim that ornament qua surface gloss enlivens the object by means of its charm, stimulating the viewer’s senses and making the form (i.e., the proper object of the pure judgment of taste) more clearly intuitable (Kant 1987, p. 72). This cosmetic function aligns with Graeco-Roman rhetorical theories of vision that attributed speech’s capacity to simulate phantasiai (impressions or visualisations) to qualities of enargeia (vividness) and sapheneia (clarity). Ancient authors explicitly presented oratorical devices intended to conjure vision on these terms as ornaments bringing texture, colour and light to the surface of speech to effect persuasion through sensation: So, the anonymous author of the Rhetorica ad Herennium likens the brightening effect of incorporating oratorical exornationes (‘ornaments’) to illuminating one’s style with ‘striking lights’ (luminibus distinctis) (Ad Herr. 4.23.32; see Guest 2015, p. 67). Perhaps the most effective of these rhetorical devices was ekphrasis, a descriptive passage usually associated with, though not limited to, art objects that brought “the thing shown vividly before the eyes” (Elsner 2002, p. 1; see also Elsner and Bartsch 2007; Squire 2013). Greek and Roman ekphrases consequently represent invaluable evidence for ways of seeing in antiquity (Goldhill 1994; Elsner 1995, pp. 21–48; 2002; Newby 2002), but they help us to think about the theories and processes of ancient image making, too. These texts attend closely to the sensuous, haptic details and phenomenal effects of the objects they describe, demanding that we recognise the centrality of materiality and the evocation of sensory, tactile experience to visual and literary representation (Porter 2011). My contention is that ornament in Roman wall painting served the same function as ornament in speech, vivifying the fresco surface by stimulating the senses and so making the painting more persuasive as an illusion.3 To explore this, my paper focuses on the representation of gemstones on both the illusionistic and stylised architectural frames of Second and Third Style murals. Although not

2 It would be otiose in this context to summarise the extensive scholarship on ornament from across such diverse fields of study. For a valuable overview and bibliography with particular emphasis on relevance to Graeco-Roman art, see (Squire 2018, p. 16; Platt 2018, p. 242). 3 Shana O’Connell has already argued that imitating the physical properties of objects and the appearance of visual effects on their surface “was the primary vehicle of vividness, or enargeia” in mural art, and that this—rather than linear perspective—should be recognised as a paradigm of pictorial illusion and three-dimensionality in ancient painting (O’Connell 2015, p. ii; see also Estrin 2015; Platt 2018; Jones 2019). Arts 2019, 8, 60 3 of 26 a widespread phenomenon, examples have been found in some of the most lavish villas in Rome and Campania, including the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale and Villa A (‘of Poppaea’) at Oplontis (Mulliez-Tramond 2010, pp. 123–32). They have not been discussed as a corpus, but largely referenced in passing, either in the context of trompe l’oeil imitations of precious materials (ibid.) or as straightforward expressions of luxury (e.g., Bergmann 2010, p. 32; Lapatin 2015, p. 119; Pearson 2015, pp. 38–40). For Verity Platt, however, they represent a visual cipher marking the point at which the viewer’s absorption in and appreciation of painterly skill collide, bringing the challenges and contradictions of mimetic representation into focus (Platt 2017, p. 111; also Platt 2011, pp. 5–6). I suggest gems also have much to tell us about the importance of ornament, as an agent of sensory encounter, to the mechanics of illusionistic painting and its effect on the viewer. Of course, this might be said of any decorative motif that adds texture or shine to a fresco surface. As David Brett argues, the perception of space is contingent on the perception of texture and edge, making surface ornamentation fundamental to the suggestion of three-dimensionality—both real and represented (Brett 2005, pp. 54–55). However, the archaeological and literary evidence implies that gemstones were thought to possess a unique materiality that made them simultaneously emblematic ornamenta and especially effective conduits of enargeia, and my aim here is to show the impact on the viewer of that material agency when translated to pigment. Real precious stones were ubiquitous as worn and applied decoration across the Roman world, and were adored, examined, and problematized as adornment in literature (Allen 2016, p. 10). Writers emphasise gems’ wondrous physical properties and their sensory, often erotic, appeal, as well as their potential to make their wearer appear brighter, more eye-catching, and more seductive (ibid., p. 112; Marshman 2017). It is no surprise, therefore, that gemstones were worn to attract suitors, whether as flattering ornament, magical amulet, or both, and are frequently part of the (literary) make-up of infamously libidinous women. Nor should we be surprised that greed for gems as markers of wealth and status led to repeated attempts in the first centuries BCE and CE to restrict how much personal adornment could be worn and by whom, and was an established trope of anti-luxury invective (Wallace-Hadrill 2008, pp. 350–53). All of these texts establish touch, desire, and material allure as central to the ways in which gemstones were viewed and valued in antiquity, asking us to approach their painted equivalents similarly. Gems and gem-encrusted objects are also common metaphors describing the vivifying effects of ornamented speech, again foregrounding their power to entice and persuade: Tacitus, for example, advises that modern style should be rich with gold and jewels (Dialogue 22.4), and Martial satirises the ‘jewelled’ flourishes of his poet-patron, Stella (Epigrams 5.11); by the fourth and fifth centuries CE, ‘floridus’ and ‘gemmeus’ are equivalent terms of stylistic analysis (Guest 2015, p. 102; Roberts 1989). This encourages us to see painted gems as vehicles of sensory pleasure and visual delight that not only made the fresco more sensible to the viewer—and hence more persuasive—but also more desirable.4 As we shall explore, this is promoted in image and text by the persistent analogy of gemstones to eyes. To reconstruct Roman ways of viewing painted gems, I look first to the ancient written sources, prioritizing Posidippus of Pella’s Lithika, a collection of 20 Hellenistic epigrams offering a set of aesthetic responses to ‘real’ precious stones, before turning to the third-century CE Imagines of Philostratus the Elder for a description of gems in painting that explicitly evokes the seductive material qualities of precious stones through an appeal to their ‘eye-like radiance’. I then examine three examples of extant murals that depict gemstones on their illusory architectural frames: The Second Style paintings of ‘cubiculum M’ from the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (acc. no. 03.14.13a-g); the early Third Style paintings of ‘cubiculum B’ from the Augustan villa under the Farnesina, now in the Palazzo Massime alle Terme in Rome; and the

4 On the ‘sensory turn’ in Roman material culture studies, see e.g., (Betts 2017). On ornament and pleasure, see (Brett 2005); and on desire as a mode for looking at Roman frescoes speciﬁcally, see (Frederick 1995; Elsner 2007, pp. 115–31; Valladares 2011; Platt 2002). Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 27

Second Style paintings of ‘cubiculum M’ from the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (acc. no. 03.14.13a-g); the early Third Style Arts 2019, 8, 60 4 of 26 paintings of ‘cubiculum B’ from the Augustan villa under the Farnesina, now in the Palazzo Massime alle Terme in Rome; and the Third Style paintings of ‘cubiculum 4’ from the Villa of ThirdNumidius Style paintings Popidius of ‘cubiculumFlorus also 4’at fromBoscoreale the Villa and of now Numidius in the PopidiusJ. Paul Getty Florus Museum also at in Boscoreale Los Angeles and(acc. now no. in the 70.AG.91). J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles (acc. no. 70.AG.91). I argueI argue that that all threeall three schemes schemes harness harness the materialthe material aﬀordances affordances of gemstones of gemstones to augment to augment the the appearanceappearance of vividnessof vividness and and to engageto engage the viewerthe viewer in their in their pictorial pictorial illusion. illusion. At theAt the same same time, time, promotingpromoting gems’ gems’ eye-like eye-like qualities qualities also also recalibrates recalibrates the viewer’sthe viewer’s subjectivity, subjectivity, opening opening opportunities opportunities for furtherfor further seduction. seduction. Considering Considering the the representational representational and and referential referential signiﬁcance significance of theof the gemstones, gemstones, I I additionallyadditionally suggest suggest that that their their captivating captivating look look not not only only made made the the fresco fresco more more convincingly convincingly ‘real’, ‘real’, but but alsoalso advocated advocated the desirabilitythe desirability of the of fresco-patron’sthe fresco-patron’s social social ideologies ideologies by giving by giving a positive a positive gloss gloss to two to two persistentpersistent themes themes in ancient in ancient discourses discourses against against gems-as-ornament, gems-as-ornament, namely namely their their slipperiness slipperiness as objects as objects thatthat confuse confuse art art and and nature, nature, and and their their intimate intimate association association with with female female adornment adornment andand seduction.seduction. As As wellwell asas highlighting highlighting the the importance importance of of sensory sensory stimulation stimulation to to the the ancient ancient reception reception of muralof mural art, art, therefore,therefore, I argue I argue that that looking looking closer closer at painted at painted gemstones gemstones sheds sheds brighter brighter light light on theon waysthe ways in which in which eliteelite patrons patrons deployed deployed fresco fresco ornament ornament to promote to promot thee the pleasures pleasures of wealth,of wealth, luxuria, luxuria, and and cultus. cultus.

2. Looking2. Looking at Gems: at Gems: A Literary A Literary Lens Lens LikeLike other other Graeco-Roman Graeco-Roman ekphrases, ekphrases, ancient ancient descriptions descriptions of gemstones of gemstones are paradigmaticare paradigmatic of a of a sensualistsensualist approach approach to viewing to viewing and and intellectualizing intellectualizing encounters encounters with with artworks, artworks, exemplifying exemplifying what what JamesJames I. Porter I. Porter has termedhas termed an “aesthetic an “aesthetic materialism” materialism” characteristic characteristic of the of Hellenisticthe Hellenistic and and Roman Roman periodsperiods (Porter (Porter 2011 2011,, p. 272). p. 272). However, However, in evoking in evoking the materialthe material qualities qualities of gems, of gems, these these ekphrases ekphrases alsoalso present present precious precious stones stones as objectsas objects that that are are themselves themselves uniquely uniquely vivid vivid and and powerfully powerfully sensual. sensual. In In particular,particular, Posidippus’s Posidippus’sLithika Lithikaprovides provides a a series series of of aesthetic aesthetic reactions reactions to to gemstones gemstones that that delights delights in in theirtheir tactility tactility and and eye-catching eye-catching brilliance, brilliance, celebrating celebrating what what we we might might term term the the ‘poikilia’ ‘poikilia’ of theirof their colour,colour, radiance, radiance, and and sensitivity sensitivity to changing to changing light, light, as well as well as their as their exotic exotic provenance, provenance, miniature miniature size, size, andand wondrous wondrous craftsmanship craftsmanship (Gutzwiller (Gutzwiller 2005 2005;; Rush Rush 2012 2012;; Elsner Elsner 2014 2014).). This This helps helps us us to to formulate formulate a a strategystrategy for for the the evaluation evaluation of realof real stones stones and and their their painted painted equivalents equivalents specifically specifically in terms in terms of the of the variegationvariegation and and illumination illumination of surface, of surface, and and on the on interplaythe interplay of touching of touching and and looking. looking. TheThe majority majority of Posidippus’s of Posidippus’s gems ge arems definedare defined by theirby their vivid vivid colour colour and and sparkling sparkling luminosity, luminosity, whichwhich is frequently is frequently likened likened to that to that of the of sunthe andsun and the moonthe moon (e.g., (e.g., 4.3, 5.1,4.3, and5.1, and 16.6). 16.6). The The intaglio intaglio describeddescribed in poem in poem 13 is13 a is literal a literal light light mass, mass, a ϕ aγγ´ φέγγοςoς .… . . ὄγκουςγκoυς thatthat sends sends out out rays rays of of light light when when made madewet wet with with oil, oil, only only revealing revealing its its carved imageimage whenwhen dry. dry. As As Porter Porter notes, notes, the the Greek Greek term, term, ogkos, ogkos, denotesdenotes ‘surface’ ‘surface’ as well as well as ‘bulk’, as ‘bulk’, shifting shifting attention attent fromion from the gem’sthe gem’s substance substance to its to appearance its appearance and and transformingtransforming it into it ainto screen a screen “on which “on which aesthetic aesthetic effects appeareffects appear and disappear, and disappear, fleetingly” fleetingly” (Porter 2011 (Porter, p. 285).2011, However, p. 285). However, we might we better might think better of think this gem of th asis gem a miniature as a miniature lamp, enliveninglamp, enlivening the surface the surface it adornsit adorns with itswith flickering, its flickering, transient transient light. light. This This is made is made literal literal in poem in poem 7, where 7, where a honey-coloured a honey-coloured stonestone mounted mounted in a in necklace a necklace illuminates illuminates its wearer,its wearer Nikonoe’s,, Nikonoe’s, breast breast with with a golden a golden glow. glow. Other Other authorsauthors emphasise emphasise gems’ gems’ light-giving light-giving properties properties in similar in similar terms: Plinyterms: the Pliny Elder’s the catalogue Elder’s catalogue of gems, of containedgems, contained in book 37 in of book his Natural 37 of his History Natural, lists History numerous, lists numerous examples examples of precious of stonesprecious that stones flash that brilliantlyflash brilliantly or seem to or contain seem stars, to contain casting stars, light oncast theing fingers light thaton holdthe fingers them (e.g., thatNH hold37.80–81; them (e.g., 37.83; NH 37.92;37.80–81; 37.100). 37.83; Both he37.92; and 37.100). Lucian alsoBoth mention he and aLucian type of also fiery mention red stone a ty knownpe of fiery as a lychnisred stone that known glows as a likelychnis a torch inthat the glows evening like (Pliny a torchNH in 37.103;the evening Lucian (PlinyDe Dea NH Syria 37.103;31–32). Lucian De Dea Syria 31–32). TheseThese descriptions descriptions recall therecall rhetorical the rhetorical habit of comparinghabit of comparing the enlivening the eenliveningffects of verbal effects ornament of verbal to brightornament light, to as bright in the Adlight, Herennium as in the, orAd when Herennium Cicero, likensor when Caesar’s Cicero use likens of oratoria Caesar’s ornamenta use of oratoria to placingornamenta a well-painted to placing picture a well-painted in good light picture (Brutus in 261).good Thislight encourages (Brutus 261). us This to give encourages the fresco us gems to give similarthe agency,fresco gems enlivening similar the agency, mural with enlivening their colour the andmural light. with And their yet, colour by conjuring and light. the sweetnessAnd yet, by of honeyconjuring and the the caress sweetness of female of honey flesh, and Posidippus’s the caress lamp-like of female gem flesh, excites Posidippus’s touch and lamp-like taste as well, gem notexcites onlytouch making and (parts taste of) as Nikonoe well, not more only visible, making but (parts making of) her Nikonoe more palpable, more visible, too. Pre-empting but making Ovid’s her more Pygmalionpalpable, (Metamorphoses too. Pre-empting10.243–298), Ovid’s whoPygmalion adorns ( hisMetamorphoses statue with gems10.243–298), in order who to make adorns her his more statue convincing as a real girl (Elsner 2007, pp. 115–31), this jewel even brings life and warmth to Nikonoe’s pale white body so that stone and skin “glow together”. Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 27

2. Looking at Gems: A Literary Lens Like other Graeco-Roman ekphrases, ancient descriptions of gemstones are paradigmatic of a sensualist approach to viewing and intellectualizing encounters with artworks, exemplifying what James I. Porter has termed an “aesthetic materialism” characteristic of the Hellenistic and Roman periods (Porter 2011, p. 272). However, in evoking the material qualities of gems, these ekphrases also present precious stones as objects that are themselves uniquely vivid and powerfully sensual. In particular, Posidippus’s Lithika provides a series of aesthetic reactions to gemstones that delights in their tactility and eye-catching brilliance, celebrating what we might term the ‘poikilia’ of their colour, radiance, and sensitivity to changing light, as well as their exotic provenance, miniature size, and wondrous craftsmanship (Gutzwiller 2005; Rush 2012; Elsner 2014). This helps us to formulate a strategy for the evaluation of real stones and their painted equivalents specifically in terms of the variegation and illumination of surface, and on the interplay of touching and looking. Arts 2019, 8, 60 Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER5 of 26 REVIEW 5 of 27 The majority of Posidippus’s gems are defined by their vivid colour and sparkling luminosity, Arts 2019Arts, 82019, x FOR, 8, x PEER FOR PEERREVIEW REVIEW 5 of 275 of 27 which is frequently likened to that of the sun and the moon (e.g., 4.3, 5.1, and 16.6).with The gems intaglio in order to make her more convincing as a real girl (Elsner 2007, pp. 115–31), this jewel with describedwithgems gems in orderThe in orderpoem sameto make to 13 is make trueisher a literal more ofher Posidippus’s more convincing light convincing mass, asϕ a aγγ´ φέγγος realas oa ς girlreal .… . . (Elsner girlὄγκουςγκ (Elsneroυ 2007,ς that, moistened 2007, pp.sends 115–31), pp. out 115–31), with rays this oil. of jewelthis light Oil,even jewel honey,when brings made andlife and wax warmth to Nikonoe’s pale white body so that stone and skin “glow together”. evenweteven brings were withbrings life sometimes oil,and life onlywarmthand warmth revealing used to Nikonoe’s to to Nikonoe’s enhanceits carved pale thepalewhit image colourewhit bodye whenbody andso that so polishdry. stonethat As stone ofand Porter precious skinand skin“glownotes, stones “glow together”. the (Plinytogether”. Greek NH term, The37.71; same ogkos, 37.195), is true of Posidippus’s φέγγος … ὄγκους, moistened with oil. Oil, honey, and wax were denotesThe assameThe well same‘surface’ is true as is tooftrue asPosidippus’s conceal of well Posidippus’s as imperfections ‘bulk’, φέγγος φέγγος shifting … ὄγκους … (Elsner ὄγκουςattent, moistened ,ion 2014moistened from, with p. the 159; withoil. gem’s Oil, Nassauoil. honey,Oil, substance honey, 1984 and, waxand p.to itswaxwere 23), appearancesometimes were but the used verb and to that enhance the colour and polish of precious stones (Pliny NH 37.71; 37.195), as well as to conceal imperfections (Elsner 2014, p. 159; Nassau 1984, p. 23), but the verb that Posidippus sometimestransformingsometimesPosidippus used used to enhance it to uses—into enhance athe λιπαscreen colour the[ ινcolour “on oandµνη´ whichpolishand]ς polish, meaningof aesthetic precious of precious ‘anointing’ effectsstones stones (Pliny appear or(Pliny NH ‘greasing’—also and 37.71; NH disappear, 37.71; 37.195), 37.195), as alludes fleetingly”well as well to the (Porter oiling of as toas conceal to conceal imperfections imperfections (Elsner (Elsner 2014, 2014, p. 159; p. 159;Nassau Na ssau1984, 1984, p. 23), p. but23), thebut verbthe verbthat Posidippusthat Posidippususes— λιπα[ινομένη]ς, meaning ‘anointing’ or ‘greasing’—also alludes to the oiling of athletes’ 2011,athletes’ p. 285). muscles However, and we the might perfuming better ofthink women’s of this bodies. gem as Fora miniature Posidippus, lamp then,, enlivening looking atthe and surface touching uses—uses—λιπα[λιινομένηπα[ινομένη]ς, meaning]ς, meaning ‘anointing’ ‘anointing’ or ‘greasing’—also or ‘greasing’—also alludes alludes to the to oilingthe oiling of athletes’ of athletes’muscles and the perfuming of women’s bodies. For Posidippus, then, looking at and touching gems it adornsgems with were its easily flickering, compatible, transient implicitly light. This erotic is made acts. literal Many in of poem the stones 7, where he describes a honey-coloured are given as musclesmuscles and theand perfuming the perfuming of women’s of women’s bodies. bodies. For Posidippus, For Posidippus, then, then, looking looking at and at touchingand touching gemswere gems easily compatible, implicitly erotic acts. Many of the stones he describes are given as werestonewere easilylove-tokens, easilymounted compatible, compatible, in often aimplicitly necklace inimplicitly exchange erotic illuminates erotic acts. for a acts.Many kiss, its Manywearer andof the atof, leastNikonoe’s,stonesthe stones half he are describes hebreast worn describes with orare admired givenaare golden given aslove-tokens, by glow.as women Other often (Elsner in exchange for a kiss, and at least half are worn or admired by women (Elsner love-tokens,authorslove-tokens,2014 often ,emphasise pp. often in 163–64). exchange in exchangegems’ Nor for light-givinga is for kiss, he a the kiss,and only atand propertiesleast writerat leasthalf to arehalf in make worn aresimilar worn intimate or admired terms:or admired contact byPliny women by central the women (ElsnerElder’s to (Elsner2014, gems’ catalogue pp. appreciation, 163–64). of Nor is he the only writer to make intimate contact central to gems’ appreciation, or 2014,gems,2014, pp. or163–64). pp. contained to 163–64). emphasise Nor isNor in he book isthe how he only the37 touching onlywriterof his writer toNatural gemsmake to make intimate couldHistory intimate make ,contact lists contact themnumerous central easiercentral to gems’ examples to gems’ see. appreciation, Tibullusappreciation, of precious orto uses emphasise or stones the conceit that how oftouching gems could make them easier to see. Tibullus uses the conceit of to emphasiseflashto emphasiseexamining brilliantly how howtouching the or touching device seem gems on togems could hiscontain beloved’scould make stars, make them gemstone castthem easiering easier lightto as see. an to on opportunitysee.Tibullus the Tibullus fingers uses to uses thethat caress conceitthe hold herconceit of handexaminingthem of (1.6.25),(e.g., the NH device while on his beloved’s gemstone as an opportunity to caress her hand (1.6.25), while examining37.80–81;examiningOvid the device transforms37.83;the device on37.92; his on thebeloved’s 37.100).his common beloved’s Bogemstoneth practicegemstone he and as an ofLucian as opportunity wetting an opportunity also the mention to surface caress to caress a her ofty peengravedhand her of hand (1.6.25),fiery (1.6.25), stonesred while stoneOvid withwhile known transforms the lips as or a the the common practice of wetting the surface of engraved stones with the lips or the OvidlychnisOvid transformstongue transforms that the to glows makecommon the likecommon their apractice torch images practice inof clearerthewetting of evening wetting intothe surface an the(Pliny eroticsurface of NH engraved fantasy of 37.103; engraved ( Amoresstones Lucian stones with2.16). De with theDea lips theSyria orlips the31–32). tongueor the to make their images clearer into an erotic fantasy (Amores 2.16). This helps us to think about painted gemstones as objects for sensing, as points of enargeia that tonguetongue to Thesemake to Thismake their descriptions helps theirimages images us clearer to thinkrecall clearer into aboutthe aninto eroticrhetorical an painted erotic fantasy fantasy gemstoneshabit (Amores (ofAmores 2.16).comparing as objects2.16). forthe sensing, enlivening as points effects of of enargeia verbal that This Thishelps helps us to us think to think about about painted painted gemstones gemstones as objects as objects for sensing, for sensing, as points as points of enargeia of enargeia thatenlivened that the fresco surface with colour, light, and tactile allure, enhancing the convincing ornamentenlivened to bright the fresco light, surface as in withthe Ad colour, Herennium light, and, ortactile whenallure, Cicero enhancing likens Caesar’s the convincing use of oratoria illusionism enlivenedenlivened the frescothe fresco surface surface with withcolour, colour, light, light, and andtactile tactile allure, allure, enhancing enhancing the convincingthe convincingillusionism of the mural scheme by evoking memories of seeing and handling real stones. It also ties ornamentaof the mural to placing scheme a well-painted by evoking memoriespicture in good of seeing light and (Brutus handling 261). realThis stones. encourages It also us ties to give painted illusionismillusionism of the of mural the mural scheme scheme by evoking by evoking memories memories of seeing of seeing and haandndling handling real stones.real stones. It also It tiesalsopainted ties gems’ powers of visual persuasion to real gems’ capacity for physical seduction. The proem paintedthepainted gems’gems’fresco gems’ powers powersgems powers of similar visual of of visual visual persuasionagency, persuasion persuasion enlivening to real to to gems’real real gems’the gems’capacity mural capacity capacity for with physical for forphysicaltheir physicalseduction. colour seduction. seduction. Theand proem Thelight. proemto ThetheAnd second proem yet, bookby to the of Philostratus’s Imagines makes this emphatic (Imag. 2.1). Here, a painting of a to theconjuringto second thesecond second book the book book ofsweetness Philostratus’s of of Philostratus’s Philostratus’s of honey Imagines Imagines and makes the makes makescaress this emphaticthis of this femaleemphatic emphatic (Imag. flesh, (Imag. 2.1). (Imag. Posidippus’s 2.1).Here,2.1). Here, a painting Here, a lamp-likepainting a paintingof statuea of gem a of of Aphrodite excites a statue ofis framed by precious stones so realistic that the artist appears to have painted statuetouchstatue of AphroditeAphrodite ofand Aphrodite taste is is framedas framed is well, framed by bynot precious by precious only precious stonesmaking stones stones so realistic(parts so so realistic realistic of)that Nikonoe thatthe artist the the artist artistmoreappears appears appearsvisible, to have to tobuthave painted have making paintedwith painted light her rather withmore lightthan with colour, giving them a radiance “like the pupil in an eye” (ο ἷ ον ὁ with palpable,withlightrather lightrather rathertoo. thanthan Pre-empting than with withcolour, colour, colour, givingOvid’s giving giving th thememPygmalion th aem radiance a radiancea radiance ( Metamorphoses“like “like“like the pupil the pupil pupil in 10.243–298), an in ineye” an an eye”(ο eye” ἷ(who ο (o ονἷ o adornsν φθαλμονὁϕθαλµ ὁ his ῷ statueκ κέντρονντρ´ o).ν ).On one hand, then, the description confirms that painted gems evoked the φθαλμφθαλμ Onῷ κέντρον oneῷ κέντρον hand,). On). one then,On hand,one the hand, descriptionthen, then, the descriptionthe confirms description confirms that confirms painted that thatpainted gems painted gems evoked gems evoked the evoked materialthematerial the brilliancebrilliance of real stones, and that this in turn might enhance the illusory reality of the painting. It also implies a conceptual synonymy between gems and eyes that rests on their shared material material realbrilliance stones,brilliance of andreal of thatrealstones, stones, this and in andthat turn thatthis might inthis turn enhance in turnmight might the enhance illusory enhance the reality illusorythe illusory of reality the painting.reality of the of the It also implies a material properties. Indeed, the simile is far from an isolated example: Pliny cites a number of stones painting.painting.conceptual It also It alsoimplies implies synonymy a concep a conceptual between synonymytual synonymy gems between and between eyes gems that gems and rests eyesand on eyesthat their reststhat shared restson their materialon theirshared shared properties. Indeed, materialmaterial properties. properties. Indeed, Indeed, the simile the simile is far is from far from an isolated an isolated example: example: Pliny Pliny cites citesa number a number of stones of thatstones are ‘eye-like’ in colour, shape, and shine, including a type of Persian smaragdus (perhaps green the simile is far from an isolated example: Pliny cites a number of stones that are ‘eye-like’ in colour, that arethat ‘eye-like’ are ‘eye-like’ in colour, in colour, shape, shape, and shine,and shine, including including a type a typeof Persian of Persian smaragdus smaragdus (perhaps (perhaps greenturquoise), green which glows like a cat’s eyes (NH 37.69; see also NH 37.110, 37.133, 37.149, 37.155, and shape, and shine, including a type of Persian smaragdus (perhaps green turquoise), which glows like a turquoise),turquoise), which which glows glows like alike cat’s a cat’seyes eyes(NH (37.69;NH 37.69; see also see alsoNH 37.110,NH 37.110, 37.133, 37.133, 37.149, 37.149, 37.155, 37.155, and37.168), and and a colourless star-stone (asteria), which also contains a light “like the pupil of an eye” 37.168),37.168), andcat’s aand eyescolourless a colourless (NH 37.69;star-stone star-stone see also(asteria), (asteria),NH 37.110,which which also 37.133, alsocontains 37.149,contains a light 37.155, a light“like and“like the 37.168),pupil the pupil of and an of eye” aan colourless(quod eye” inclusam star-stone lucem pupilla quadam continet) (Pliny NH 37.131). (quod(quod inclusam(asteria), inclusam lucem which lucem pupilla also pupilla quadam contains quadam continet) a light continet) “like(Pliny (Pliny theNHpupil 37.131). NH 37.131). of an eye” (quod inclusam lucem pupillaHowever, quadam as Platt argues, Philostratus’s gem-eyes also take us “beyond the boundaries of However,continet)However, as Platt (Plinyas Plattargues,NH argues,37.131). Philostratus’s Philostratus’s gem-eyes gem-eyes also alsotake takeus “beyond us “beyond the boundariesthe boundaries ofrepresentation” of by seeming to perform the goddess’ epiphany, suggesting divine radiance at the representation”representation”However, by seeming by seeming as to Platt perform to argues,perform the goddess’ Philostratus’sthe goddess’ epiphany, epiphany, gem-eyes suggesting suggesting also di takevine di vineradiance us “beyondradiance at the sameat the the boundariestime as lending of the statue a subjectivity of its own (Platt 2011, pp. 5–7). The activation of samesame timerepresentation” timeas lending as lending the by statuethe seeming statue a subjectivity a to subjectivity perform of its the of own goddess’its own(Platt (Platt epiphany,2011, 2011, pp. 5–7).pp. suggesting 5–7). The Theactivation divine activation radianceofAphrodite’s of at theimage same in this way is contingent on the sensory stimulation of the stones: They evoke Aphrodite’sAphrodite’stime image as lendingimage in this in thewaythis statue wayis contingent is a contingent subjectivity on the on ofsensorythe its sensory own stimulation (Platt stimulation 2011 of ,the pp. of stones: the 5–7). stones: TheThey activationThey evoke Aphrodite’sevoke of Aphrodite’s appearances in myth, where her revelation to mortal eyes is often recognised through the glitter of her jewels, which in turn enhance the eroticism of her body—as, for example, in the Aphrodite’sAphrodite’simage appearances inappearances this way in myth, isin contingentmyth, where where her on revelatiher the revelati sensoryon toon mortal to stimulation mortal eyes eyesis often ofis often therecognised stones: recognised through They through evoke Aphrodite’s the glitterthe glitter of her of jewels,her jewels, which which in turn in turnenhance enhance the eroticism the eroticism of her of body—as,her body—as, for example, for example, in the Homericin the Hymn 5 when the goddess appears to Anchises glittering with jewels. Like Nikonoe, the appearances in myth, where her revelation to mortal eyes is often recognised through the glitter of HomericHomeric Hymn Hymn 5 when 5 when the goddessthe goddess appears appears to Anchises to Anchises glittering glittering with withjewels. jewels. Like LikeNikonoe, Nikonoe, thegems the not only help us to see Aphrodite, they help us to touch her, too. her jewels, which in turn enhance the eroticism of her body—as, for example, in the Homeric Hymn 5 gemsgems not only not onlyhelp helpus to us see to Aphrodit see Aphrodite, theye, theyhelp helpus to us touch to touch her, too.her, too. The association also gives the gemstones the ‘look of love’, and reminds us that in the ancient The whenassociationThe association the goddess also givesalso appears gives the gemstones the to gemstones Anchises the ‘look the glittering ‘look of love’, of with love’, and jewels. remindsand reminds Like us Nikonoe,that us inthat the in theancient the gems ancientsources, not onlyAphrodite’s help us physical charm is located as much in her eyes as in her jewellery or her body sources,sources, Aphrodite’sto see Aphrodite’s Aphrodite, physical physical they charm help charm is uslocated is to located touch as much her,as much in too. her in eyes her eyesas in as her in jewellery her jewellery or her or body her(e.g., body Apuleius Met. 10.30). The amorous gaze that “melts what it looks upon”, is, in fact, an (e.g.,(e.g., Apuleius ApuleiusThe Met association . Met10.30).. 10.30). The also Theamorousgives amorous gaze the gemstones gazethat that“melts “melts the what ‘look what it looks of it love’, looks upon”, andupon”, is, reminds in is, fact, in usfact,anestablished that an in the literary ancient trope “central to the poetic expression of erotic desire” (Calame 2016, p. 300). establishedestablishedsources, literary literary Aphrodite’s trope trope “central “central physical to the to charm poeticthe poetic ex ispression located expression asof mucherotic of erotic indesire” her desire” eyes (Calame as(Calame in 2016, her 2016, jewellery p. 300). p.Love 300). or is her frequently body (e.g., described as ‘darting’ from the eyes of goddesses and beautiful women, arousing LoveLove is frequentlyApuleius is frequently describedMet described. 10.30). as ‘darting’ as The ‘darting’ amorous from from the gazeeyes the eyesof that goddesses of “melts goddesses and what beautifuland it looksbeautiful women, upon”, women, arousing is, inarousingand fact, disarming an established the beholder: In Hesiod, for example, the Graces emit love-beams from their and anddisarming literarydisarming the trope beholder:the “central beholder: In to Hesiod, theIn poeticHesiod, for expression examfor example, ple,the of erotic Gracesthe Graces desire” emit emit (love-beamsCalame love-beams 2016 from, p. from 300).theirsparkling their Love is eyes frequently like rays of light, undoing whoever catches their gaze (Theogony 907ff; Catalogues of sparkling eyes like rays of light, undoing whoever catches their gaze (Theogony 907ff; CataloguesWomen of frr. 14 and 68), and Sophocles describes how the eyes of a happily wedded bride emanate sparklingdescribed eyes like rays as ‘darting’ of light, undoing from the whoever eyes of goddessescatches their and gaze beautiful (Theogony women, 907ff; Catalogues arousing of and disarming the WomenWomen frr. 14 frr. and 14 68),and and68), Sophoclesand Sophocles describes describes how hothew eyes the eyesof a happilyof a happily wedded wedded bride bride emanate emanateall-conquering desire (Antigone 795–796). In a poem by Ibycus, Eros himself casts the poet a melting beholder: In Hesiod, for example, the Graces emit love-beams from their sparkling eyes like rays of all-conqueringall-conquering desire desire (Antigone (Antigone 795–796). 795–796). In a poemIn a poem by Ibycus, by Ibycus, Eros Erhimselfos himself casts casts the poet the poeta melting a meltinggaze that throws him “into the nets of Aphrodite” (PMGF 287; trans. Calame 2016, p. 299). Theogony Catalogues of Women gaze gazethatlight, throwsthat throws undoing him “intohim whoever“into the nets the ofnets catches Aphrodite” of Aphrodite” their ( gazePMGF (PMGF ( 287; trans.287; trans. 907Calameff Calame; 2016, 2016, p. 299). p. 299). frr. 14Flashing and 68), and and gleaming, these beguiling love-eyes have a liquid quality not unlike the brilliant FlashingSophoclesFlashing and gleaming,and describes gleaming, these how these beguiling the beguiling eyes love-eyes of alove-eyes happily have weddedhavea liquid a liquid quality bride quality emanate not unlike not unlike all-conquering the brilliant the brilliantpoikilia desire of precious (Antigone stones, tying gems’ symbolic value unavoidably to their capacity to enchant. This poikiliapoikilia of795–796). precious of precious stones, In astones, poem tying tying bygems’ Ibycus, gems’ symbolic symbolic Eros value himself value unavoidably castsunavoidably the to poet their to atheircapacity melting capacity to gaze enchant. to enchant. that This throwsis, Thisof course, him “into already the implicit in Posidippus, as also in the real-world custom of wearing gems to is, ofis, course, ofnets course, already of Aphrodite” already implicit implicit (inPMGF Posidippus, in Posidippus, 287; trans. as also asCalame alsoin the in 2016 real-worldthe ,real-world p. 299). custom custom of wearing of wearing gems gems toattract to lovers, but a number of literary sources follow Philostratus and specifically exploit the attractattract lovers, lovers, Flashingbut abut number a and number gleaming, of literary of literary thesesources sources beguiling follow follow Philostratus love-eyes Philostratus haveand andspecifically a liquid specifically quality exploit exploit not theeye-like unlike the thequality brilliant of precious stones to signal the compelling power of adornment. Pliny notes that eye-likeeye-like qualitypoikilia quality of precious of precious stones stones, stones to tying signal to signal gems’ the compellingthe symbolic compelling valuepower power unavoidablyof adornment. of adornment. to Pliny their Pliny notes capacity notes that tothat enchant. This is, of course, already implicit in Posidippus, as also in the real-world custom of wearing gems to attract lovers, but a number of literary sources follow Philostratus and specifically exploit the eye-like quality of precious stones to signal the compelling power of adornment. Pliny notes that amethysts were Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 6 of 27 Arts 2019, 8, 60 6 of 26 amethysts were known as “eyelids of Venus” (NH 37.123) because of their captivating colour, and we hear elsewhere of a magical amethyst engraved with a love-charm and dedicated to Aphrodite known as “eyelids of Venus” (NH 37.123) because of their captivating colour, and we hear elsewhere of that had the power to draw men across the sea and boys from their bedrooms (AP 5.205). Numerous a magical amethyst engraved with a love-charm and dedicated to Aphrodite that had the power to ‘non-magical’ stones were also thought to have electrostatic or magnetic properties by ancient draw men across the sea and boys from their bedrooms (AP 5.205). Numerous ‘non-magical’ stones writers (e.g., Pliny NH.103). were also thought to have electrostatic or magnetic properties by ancient writers (e.g., Pliny NH.103). Achilles Tatius, meanwhile, likens a gem worn by a bride to a golden eye, as though it were Achilles Tatius, meanwhile, likens a gem worn by a bride to a golden eye, as though it were charged with the same sexual magnetism as Aphrodite’s glinting gaze (Leucippe and Clitophon charged with the same sexual magnetism as Aphrodite’s glinting gaze (Leucippe and Clitophon 2.11.2–4). 2.11.2–4). The amethyst paid for Charikleia’s ransom in Hesiodorus’s Aethiopica (5.13) is also The amethyst paid for Charikleia’s ransom in Hesiodorus’s Aethiopica (5.13) is also compared in size to compared in size to a maiden’s eye, implying the interchangeable desirability of gemstones and a maiden’s eye, implying the interchangeable desirability of gemstones and women. In the world of women. In the world of Roman elegy, women’s jewels and women’s eyes exert a comparably Roman elegy, women’s jewels and women’s eyes exert a comparably irresistible pull on the helpless irresistible pull on the helpless poet-lover (Propertius 1.1.1 and 2.22a.10). This makes the use of real poet-lover (Propertius 1.1.1 and 2.22a.10). This makes the use of real gems as eye inlays in Greek and gems as eye inlays in Greek and Roman sculpture about more than just replicating lifelikeness in Roman sculpture about more than just replicating lifelikeness in terms of colour and sheen (Hoft 2015, p. terms of colour and sheen (Hoft 2015, p. 123); it gives the statue the limb-loosening look of the 123); it gives the statue the limb-loosening look of the beloved, reminding us that the persuasive force beloved, reminding us that the persuasive force of illusionistic representation depended as much on of illusionistic representation depended as much on the evocation of desire in the viewer as on realism the evocation of desire in the viewer as on realism (Valladares 2011). The same conceit is played out (Valladares 2011). The same conceit is played out more subtly in Roman-period mummy portraits, more subtly in Roman-period mummy portraits, where Egyptian blue pigment could be used to where Egyptian blue pigment could be used to replicate the lustrous surfaces of eyes and jewels, as on replicate the lustrous surfaces of eyes and jewels, as on a second-century CE portrait of a woman a second-century CE portrait of a woman now in London (British Museum, acc. no. 1939,0324.211: now in London (British Museum, acc. no. 1939,0324.211: Verri 2009, p. 739110; Brecoulaki 2015, pp. Verri 2009, p. 739110; Brecoulaki 2015, pp. 230–31) (Figure1). Turned into twin points of shimmering 230–31) (Figure 1). Turned into twin points of shimmering luminescence, the gem and eye activate luminescence, the gem and eye activate the portrait (Corcoran 2016, p. 63), accentuating the gaze, but the portrait (Corcoran 2016, p. 63), accentuating the gaze, but also giving the deceased subject a also giving the deceased subject a compelling—perhaps desirous—presence in the viewer’s world. compelling—perhaps desirous—presence in the viewer’s world.

Figure 1.1. FuneraryFunerary portraitportrait of of a a woman. woman. London: London: British British Museum. Museum. Photograph: Photograph:© 2017© 2017 Trustees Trustees of the of Britishthe British Museum Museum available available under under Creative Creative Commons Commons licence licence CC BY-NC-SACC BY-NC-SA 4.0. 4.0.

Egyptian blueblue mightmight alsoalso be be used used for for statues’ statues’ eyes eyes instead instead of of precious precious stones stones (Verri (Verri et al.et 2010al. 2010,, pp. 48–49),pp. 48–49), and thisand potential this potential for gems for to gems be eyes to and be foreyes pigment and for to bepigment both has to obvious be both implications has obvious for theimplications depiction for of preciousthe depiction stones of in precious wall painting stones and in wall their painting capacity toand seduce. their capacity As Platt to has seduce. observed, As

Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 27 Arts 2019, 8, 60 7 of 26 Platt has observed, Philostratus’s painted gem-eyes expose a tension between intellectual and sensory perception, signalling the artist’s techne at the same time as persuading the viewer of their Philostratus’sreality and calling painted what gem-eyes Jas’ Elsner expose has a tension termed between the “process intellectual of realist and sensory viewing” perception, into question signalling by the(Elsner artist’s 1995, techne p. 74; at Squire the same 2013, time p. as111). persuading Not only the can viewer their appearance of their reality not and be callingtrusted what but by Jas’ looking Elsner hasback termed at their the viewer, “process the ofgems realist deny viewing” their status into questionas a viewed by (objectElsner altogether. 1995, p. 74; For Squire the viewer2013, p. of 111). the Notreal onlyfrescoes can theirwe are appearance about to notexamine, be trusted this butenacts bylooking a potential back reversal at their viewer,of subjectivity, the gems giving deny their the statusimpression as a viewed insteadobject of being altogether. looked at For by thethe viewerimage. ofIf these the real gems frescoes are like we women’s are about eyes, to examine, by which this to enactsbe gazed a potentialat is to be reversalundone ofwith subjectivity, desire, then giving becoming the impression the object of instead the fresco’s of being look looked is to be at exposed by the image.fully to Ifthe these painting’s gems are charms. like women’s eyes, by which to be gazed at is to be undone with desire, then becoming the object of the fresco’s look is to be exposed fully to the painting’s charms. 3. The Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor 3. The Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor To examine more carefully how these material associations played out in Roman wall painting, To examine more carefully how these material associations played out in Roman wall painting, I focus now on three examples of decorative mural schemes, which, like Philostratus’s painting, I focus now on three examples of decorative mural schemes, which, like Philostratus’s painting, depict depict gems as ornament on their borders. First are the wall paintings of ‘cubiculum M’ from the gems as ornament on their borders. First are the wall paintings of ‘cubiculum M’ from the villa of villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale on the Bay of Naples, painted in c. 50–40 BCE.5 In this Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale on the Bay of Naples, painted in c. 50–40 BCE.5 In this room, the room, the north, east, and west walls’ central scenes are each framed by a pair of red marble north, east, and west walls’ central scenes are each framed by a pair of red marble columns, crowned columns, crowned with golden Corinthian capitals and entwined with gold tendrils with with golden Corinthian capitals and entwined with gold tendrils with gem-studded blossoms that gem-studded blossoms that spring from calyxes of gold acanthus leaves (Figure 2). They are part of a spring from calyxes of gold acanthus leaves (Figure2). They are part of a fantasy construction of trompe fantasy construction of trompe l’oeil architecture emblematic of the theatrical and carefully crafted l’oeil architecture emblematic of the theatrical and carefully crafted illusionism of the Second Style of illusionism of the Second Style of Pompeian wall painting (Drerup 1959; Ehrhardt 1991, pp. 28–30; Pompeian wall painting (Drerup 1959; Ehrhardt 1991, pp. 28–30; Ling 1991, pp. 23–51). Confounding Ling 1991, pp. 23–51). Confounding the room’s physical limits, they seemingly transform its walls the room’s physical limits, they seemingly transform its walls into a colonnade through which a series into a colonnade through which a series of panoramas are glimpsed (Platt 2017, pp. 102–6; Clarke of panoramas are glimpsed (Platt 2017, pp. 102–6; Clarke 1993, p. 33). Divided into antechamber 1993, p. 33). Divided into antechamber and alcove, the east and west walls both appear to open onto and alcove, the east and west walls both appear to open onto a fanciful cityscape with one courtyard a fanciful cityscape with one courtyard containing an elaborate shrine and another with a tholos containing an elaborate shrine and another with a tholos temple, both adorned with garlands, gold temple, both adorned with garlands, gold statues, and precious metal vessels. The north wall, by statues, and precious metal vessels. The north wall, by contrast, opens onto a rustic sanctuary within a contrast, opens onto a rustic sanctuary within a grotto with fountains overhung by ivy and a terrace grotto with fountains overhung by ivy and a terrace with grapevines beyond. with grapevines beyond.

Figure 2. WestWest wall of cubiculum M, Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale.Boscoreale. New New York: York: Metropolitan Museum. Photogra Photograph:ph: ©© 2000–20192000–2019 The The Metropolitan Metropolitan Museum Museum of of Art available under Creative Commons licence CC0 1.0.

5 The bibliography on the villa as a whole and on cubiculum M in particular is expansive. Key publications include 5 ( TheWilliams-Lehmann bibliography 1953on the; Beyen villa 1957 as ;a Ling whole 1991 and, pp. on 28–30; cubiculum Clarke 1993 M ,in p. particular 33; Bergmann is 2002expansive., 2013; Bergmann Key publications et al. 2010; Verbank-Piinclude (Lehmannérard and Barbet1953; 2013 Beyen). 1957; Ling 1991, pp. 28–30; Clarke 1993, p. 33; Bergmann 2002, 2013; Bergmann et al. 2010; Verbank-Piérard et al. 2013).

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These columns, together with the near-identical gold versions painted in triclinium 14 of Villa A at Oplontis, have primarily been used as evidence for the opulence of late Republican villa decoration and its efforts to emulate the sumptuous and glittering interiors of Hellenistic palaces (Williams-Lehmann 1953, p. 87; Lapatin 2015, p. 119; Bergmann 2010, p. 32). Greek and Roman texts provide a number of parallels, including the gilt gem-studded columns that reportedly supported the pavilion of Alexander, and the gold columns with golden acanthus tendrils that decorated his hearse (Diodorus Siculus Bib. 18.272; Athenaeus Deip. 12.538d). Citing Callimachus, Athenaeus tells us that columns decorated with ivory and gold adorned Ptolemy IV Philadelphos’s pleasure boat (Athenaeus Deip. 5.204), while Lucan describes the agate columns and emerald-studded ivory veneers that clad the walls of Cleopatra’s reception hall in Alexandria, where she entertained Julius Caesar on couches inlaid with gems and furnished with covers embroidered with jaspers (De Bello Civ. 10.111–122). Fragments of gilded bronze set with over four hundred gemstones, including agates, amethysts, chalcedonies, and garnets, have been excavated in the Horti Maecenatis on the Oppian Hill in Rome, confirming that Roman interiors were embellished with real jewels, too (Cima 1986, pp. 105–44; Lapatin 2015, p. 121; Häuber 2015, pp. 803–6). Perhaps most famous is Nero’s Domus Aurea, which, according to Suetonius, contained rooms entirely covered with gold and adorned with gems and mother-of-pearl (Suet. Nero 31.2.), but in the Julio-Claudian period, such ostentatious decoration seems to have been commonplace amongst Rome’s wealthiest citizens, and was increasingly problematized as a marker of dangerous, Eastern luxury (Tacitus Annals 15.42.1; Seneca the Younger Epistles 86.6–7). Not only did these gem-encrusted interiors allow Romans to act like Hellenistic kings in their homes, it also allowed them to act like gods (Barry 2013, p. 86). Similar decorations to those found on the Oppian Hill were recovered from the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Amathus on Cyprus (Häuber 2015, p. 803), while Lucan explicitly likens Cleopatra’s lavish palace to a temple (De Bello Civili 10.112). Real gems—contained in cabinets like those described in Posidippus’s Lithika, or as decoration on luxurious metal objects—were also conspicuous in late Republican Rome as plunder, paraded during triumphal processions, displayed publicly in the Forum, and dedicated in temples (Pliny NH 37.11; Suetonius Aug. 30.2.4). Most notorious is Pompey’s triumph commemorating his defeat of Mithridates of Pontus in 64 BCE, which brought a glut of precious stones into the city and supposedly ignited a gem-mania amongst Roman elites, contributing to the spread of Greek luxus at Rome and her consequent moral decline (Pliny NH 37.12–18). This positions gems as objects, the significance of which rested on their status as exotic luxury and foreign import, and on their (sometimes problematic) association with imperial expansion and triumphal display, making them easily symbolic of unregulated wealth and greed (for this as an overarching concern of Pliny’s Natural History, see Carey 2003, especially ch. 4). Marble columns, often stolen from Greek temples, also found their way to Rome as plunder, where they sometimes decorated elaborate private villas and were problematized by critics on the same terms as precious stones (Leach 2004, pp. 29–30). The gemmed-columns at Boscoreale consequently conjure the material splendour of Roman triumph as well as the seductive opulence of Eastern palaces and, later, imperial domi (Wallace-Hadrill 2008, pp. 315–55; Zarmakoupi 2014, pp. 50–61; Clarke 1993, pp. 12–26; Bergmann 2013). This is underlined by the use of cinnabar for the red column shafts (Meyer 2010, p. 34), which was a costly foreign import mined beyond the reaches of the Empire itself (Spangenberg et al. 2010). The columns even purport to be real spolia: Each one is in fact an individual plaster section (Meyer and Faltermeier 2010 at 11:30), inserted separately into the cubiculum walls as though truly taken from a conquered temple (or palace) and erected as decorative trophy. It is no surprise, therefore, that each pair frames a shrine, either alluding to their fictive provenance or elevating their display to votive dedication. The association with sacred architecture is made more explicit on close inspection of the tholoi painted on the east and west walls of the alcove, the red columns of which are also decorated with spiralling tendrils and topped with golden Arts 2019, 8, 60 9 of 26

Corinthian capitals.6 The rinceaux motif itself was closely associated with Dionysus (Sauron 1988, p. 15), and as the Hellenistic comparanda suggest could be used to signpost otherworldly or superhuman status, whether divine, royal, or deceased. In the Augustan period, it came to symbolise the god-given abundance and renewal of the first principate (Castriota 1995). Where we could, therefore, see these jewelled columns as symbolic “shifters” marking the transition from divine to domestic or from fiction to reality (Bergmann 2010, p. 29), their presentation as sacred spolia turned decor transforms them into objects for aesthetic contemplation connected intimately with contemporary debates concerning empire, luxuria, and wealth. As Clare Guest observes, the display of looted artworks in Rome was a means of ornamenting the city, enhancing its splendour and prestige at the same time as creating an appropriate setting for the pursuit of leisure, pleasure, and cultured sophistication (Guest 2015, p. 134). Gems are in many ways the ultimate objet d’art, catching the eye and demanding close up viewing, and the skill with which they have been represented on the walls of cubiculum M invites similar connoisseurial appreciation. At first glance, they are convincingly material. The variegated colours and shapes of the stones—either square-cut and faceted or convex and oval—recall the emeralds, amethysts, chalcedonies, and garnets imported and quarried across the Roman world and popular in first-century BCE jewellery (Zazoff 1983, pp. 270, 348; Plantzos 1999, p. 36; Mulliez-Tramond 2010, p. 131). The use of gold settings also reflects contemporary taste and its preference for poikilia: According to Pliny, for example, yellow beryls should be hexagonally-cut and backed with gold as a way of enhancing their brilliance (NH 37.106), later adding that no stone sets off gold so well as green emeralds (NH 37.112). The painter of the Boscoreale gems has replicated this effect by applying each ‘stone’ over the gold of its mount—which is itself modelled with shadow and highlight—and using tonal gradations of colour to modulate its surface, suggesting three-dimensionality, translucency, and shine. White highlights on the surface of each stone, applied with quick, fluid brushstrokes, further simulate the phenomenal appearance of actual gems by seeming to reflect the light in the room. In triclinium 14 at Oplontis, highlights on metal objects contain Egyptian blue so that they sparkled for real (Gee 2015, p. 142). The pigment may also have been used on the jewels adorning the gold columns (personal communication Regina Gee), and although no pigment analysis has been done on the gems from Boscoreale (personal communication Joan Mertens and Christl Faltermeier), the same artists worked at both sites (Bergmann 2002, p. 95; 2010, p. 11; Gee 2015, p. 129), suggesting it may have been used there, too. Egyptian blue has been detected on other sections of the walls of cubiculum M (Meyer 2010, p. 44), while the evidence of the Roman mummy portraits attests to the practice of using the pigment for precious stones, giving them ‘eye-like’ radiance and subjectivity of their own. Even if Egyptian blue was not used, the shape of the stones and their near-liquid shimmer still reminds the viewer of eyes. The plaster, which was polished to a mirror-like sheen and mixed with marble dust in the uppermost layer, would also have glittered as it caught the light, enhancing the gems’ apparent material radiance (Meyer 2010, p. 33). If we are to follow Philostratus, then being confronted by so many eye-like gems had the effect of turning the viewer from a connoisseur of painterly skill to a captive of the stones’ enticing glimmer. Enthralled, he or she might imitate Tibullus and imagine reaching out to caress a jewel, or else to pluck one from its setting, like the covetous dinner-guests Juvenal describes stealing gems from embellished metal drinking cups (5.65–76); as though to encourage this response, a bird on the north wall seems about to snatch a stone with its beak (Figure3). On one hand, then, this appeal to touch enhances the suggestion of texture and volume, giving the fresco greater three-dimensionality. However, it also makes tangible the desirability of the room’s luxurious materialism.

6 The gold gem-encrusted columns at Oplontis likewise frame doors to sanctuaries, and a Fourth Style fresco from the House of Menander in Pompeii depicts a shrine with gold Corinthian columns entwined with silver ivy leaves (Maiuri 1932, figs. 44–46, pl. X; Clarke 1993, p. 115). Arts 2019, 8, 60 10 of 26 Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 10 of 27

Figure 3. Detail ofof thethe north north wall wall of of cubiculum cubiculum M, M, Villa Villa of Publiusof Publius Fannius Fannius Synistor Synistor at Boscoreale. at Boscoreale. New NewYork: York: Metropolitan Metropolitan Museum. Museum. Photograph: Photograph© 2000–2019: © 2000–2019 The Metropolitan The Metropolitan Museum Museum of Art available of Art availableunder Creative under CommonsCreative Commons licence CC0 licence 1.0. CC0 1.0.

At this point, however, the eye-like radiance of the stones takes on a different—perhaps different—perhaps more threatening—quality. In In his his MetamorphosesMetamorphoses, ,Ovid Ovid uses uses the the Latin Latin ‘gemma’ ‘gemma’ to to denote the jewel-like ‘eyes’‘eyes’ ofof thethe peacock’speacock’s tailtail ((Met. 1.723), which which we we are are told were in fact real eyes taken by Juno from the slain giant, Argus. Known Known by by the the epithet, epithet, Pano Panoptesptes (‘All-Eyed’), and renowned for his ever-alert wakefulness, ArgusArgus hadhad beenbeen taskedtasked by by a a jealous jealous Juno Juno to to ‘keep ‘keep an an eye’ eye’ on on the the nymph-turned-heifer, nymph-turned-heifer, Io, Io,and and guard guard her from her Jupiter’sfrom Jupiter’s lustful advances.lustful advanc Althoughes. Although ultimately ultimately unsuccessful, unsuccessful, to be Argus-eyed to be Argus-eyedconsequently consequently became a metaphor became a for metaphor close observation for close observation and the guarding and the of guarding covetable of goods: covetable So, goods:Propertius So, gazesPropertius intently gazes at his intently beloved at Cynthia,his belove “liked Cynthia, Argus on “like the strangeArgus on horn’s the strange of Inachus’s horn’s child of Inachus’s[Io]” (Argus child ut ignotis[Io]” (Argus cornibus ut Inachidosignotis cornibus) (1.3.30). Inachidos) (1.3.30). Other writers describe Argus’s many eyes as flashing flashing and gleaming (e.g., (e.g., Hyginus Hyginus FabulaeFabulae 145;145; Nonnus Dionysiaca 13.26), recalling the language used to desc describeribe the radiance of precious stones. By making the suggestive similarity similarity literal, literal, however, however, Ov Ovid’sid’s description description not not only only picks picks up up on on real real gems’ gems’ eye-like physicalityphysicality andand their their persistent persistent literary literary analogy, analogy, but alsobut reflectsalso reflects the apparent the apparent use of precious use of preciousstones for stones surveillance: for surveillance: According According to Suetonius, to Suetonius, the colonnades the colonnades of Domitian’s of Domitian’sDomus Flavia Domuswere Flavia lined werewith alined type ofwith reflective, a type transparentof reflective, stone transparen that enabledt stone the that emperor enabled to see the what emperor was happening to see what behind was happeninghim (Suet. Dom.behind14.2). him This (Suet. encourages Dom. us14.2). tothink Thisof encourages painted gems usas to metaphorical think of painted spyglasses, gems too, as a metaphoricalpoetic ploy that spyglasses, is in fact madetoo, a materialpoetic ploy in the that Fourth is in fact Style made fresco material decoration in the of Fourth Villa A Style at Oplontis. fresco decorationHere, a golden of Villa trophy A at cista Oplontis. depicted Here, on the a golden wall of roomtrophy 5 iscista decorated depicted with on athe wreath wall setof withroom three 5 is decoratedgreen gemstones with a paintedwreath set by with the same three hand green and gemstones with the painted same formal by the characteristics same hand and as thewith green the ‘eyes’same formal of a peacock’s characteristics tail in as room the 70green (Gee ‘eyes’ 2015 of) (Figurea peacock’s4). It tail would in room be hard 70 (Gee for a2015 viewer p. 142) versed (Figure in 4).Ovid It would to look be at thehard peacock for a viewer and not versed think ofin Argus’sOvid to watchfullook at the eyes peacock and so, and encouraged not think by of the Argus’s visual watchfulsimilarity, eyes to see and them so, reflectedencouraged in the by cistathe visual gems, si too.milarity, Keeping to see an eyethem out reflected for covetous in the fingers, cista gems, these too.painted Keeping gem-eyes an eye consequently out for covetous remindthe fingers, viewer these that thepainted villa’s gem-eyes luxury (both consequently real and represented) remind the is vieweroff limits. that the villa’s luxury (both real and represented) is off limits.

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FigureFigure 4. 4. FrescoFresco cista cista with with jewelled jewelled wreath, wreath, east east wall, wall, ro roomom 5, Villa A at Oplontis. Photograph: Paul Paul Bardagjy,Bardagjy, provided courtesy The Oplontis Project: www.oplontisproject.org.www.oplontisproject.org.

AtAt Boscoreale,Boscoreale, then,then, we we might might also also see thesee many-eyedthe many-eyed columns columns as an abstractedas an abstracted Argus, guarding Argus, guardingthe precious the goods precious depicted goods beyond depicted their beyond boundary. their However, boundary. that isHowever, not all that that the is literary not all association that the literaryof gems association with (peacock-)eyes of gems with entails. (peacock-)eyes For Phaedrus, entails. who uses For ‘gemma’Phaedrus, in who the same uses way‘gemma’ as Ovid, in the the samesuperﬁcial way glamouras Ovid, ofthe the superficial ‘gems’ belies glamour the peacock’s of the ugly‘gems’ singing belies voice the peacock’s (Fabulae 3.18.3), ugly suggestingsinging voice the (potentialFabulae 3.18.3), for painted suggesting jewels alsothe topotential signal the for unreliability painted jewels of vision—or also to rather,signal thethe deceptiveunreliability look of of vision—ordecorated surfaces.rather, the Certainly, deceptive by look going of nearerdecorated to the su paintedrfaces. Certainly, gems, the viewerby going is madenearer aware to the that painted what gems,they see the is viewer only surface. is made As aware in Philostratus’s that what they proem, see the is only gem-ornament surface. As here in Philostratus’s illuminates the proem, conditions the gem-ornamentof illusionistic representationhere illuminates and the the conditions painterly skillof il onlusionistic which the representation entire mural schemeand thedepends—even painterly skill onas itwhich makes the the entire fresco mural more compellingscheme depends—even (Platt 2017, p. as 111). it makes the fresco more compelling (Platt 2017, Ip. suggest 111). that at Boscoreale, this tension in turn becomes a means of conceptualising and contextualisingI suggest that the relationshipat Boscoreale, between this tension art and in nature. turn becomes As has been a means much of explored, conceptualising Latin authors and contextualisingconsidered ars andthe naturarelationship to be relatedbetween phenomena, art and nature. separable As has only been by much degree explored, (Bergmann Latin 2002 authors, p. 88), consideredand precious ars stones and natura prove especiallyto be related emblematic phenomen of thisa, separable trope. For only Posidippus, by degree as (Bergmann for other Hellenistic 2002, p. 88),poets, and the precious incredible stones lifelikeness prove ofespecially intaglio gems’emblematic engraved of this images trop madee. For themPosidippus, paradigms as for of artisticother Hellenisticskill (Gutzwiller poets, 2005 the, p.incredible 383; Rush lifelikeness 2012, pp. of 26–60), intaglio but gems’ for Pliny, engraved gems representedimages made a perfectthem

Arts 2019, 8, 60 12 of 26 contemplation of nature, albeit one vulnerable to misuse as luxury (NH 37.1).7 It is no coincidence that Ovid includes gemstones in a list of raw materials that are crude by nature, but made elegant by artistry (Ars 3.219–224); nor, conversely, that reports existed of miraculous gems ‘engraved’ with naturally-occurring rather than manmade motifs (Pliny NH 37.5). Elsewhere in Latin literature gems are linked etymologically to buds and vegetation (Cicero de Sen. 15.53; Vergil Georgics 2.335; Pliny NH 37.62–63), reminding us that ornament might literally bring life as well as beauty to whatever surface it adorned (Guest 2015, p. 150). Lucretius takes the analogy further, however, conjuring the image of trees covered in gems rather than flowers as an example of impossible, unnatural, hybridity (De Rerum Natura 5.912). More than just a nod to Hellenistic fashion, therefore, the use of precious stones for blossoms on the cubiculum columns is a visual pun that acknowledges gems’ potential to be both artful and natural; or, rather, to be nature transformed into art. They symbolise the work of culture, and establish this as a mode for viewing the cubiculum frescoes as a whole: The shrines on the north, east, and west walls are made analogous by the repeated glitter of the jewelled columns that frame them, presenting both rustic and urban vistas as comparable products of human craftsmanship. This is underlined by the acanthus motif itself, which is often associated with refined artistry in Latin poetry (Vergil Eclogues 3.45; Aeneid 1.649; Theocritus 1.55–56) and evokes Dionysus’s twin association with seasonal regeneration and the luxury (or artifice) of the theatre (Guest 2015, p. 127). So, the golden tendrils of the columns on the north wall echo the trailing ivy of the grotto and the grapevines beyond, setting the natural against the artificial, but ultimately presenting both as painterly fabrication (Platt 2017, p. 109). Indeed, the north wall—immediately visible from the entrance to the room, and so prominent within the composition as a whole—pushes the interplay of art and nature further. As is well known, a window imposes ‘reality’ over the trompe l’oeil fiction of the fresco, located in part within the column-frame, but cutting through the left-hand shaft and a corner of a yellow monochrome screen supporting a glass bowl of fruit (Figure5). Bevelled edges to the wall painting confirm that the window already existed when the frescoes were executed (Meyer 2010, p. 44), while the trompe l’oeil shadows on the east and west walls have been painted as though responding to light from the window (Williams-Lehmann 1953, p. 88). This makes the juxtaposition of the natural and the artificial, of the real and the painted, central to the mural design. Other details add to the effect. For example, the fruits contained in the bowl are painted the same vivid colours and shaped with the same tonal shadows and white highlights as the jewels, establishing a formal correspondence that equates natural produce to artificial blossom. Equally tempting, they render luxus and fructus comparatively desirable, and suggest both might have ornamental function. This recalls the Stoic philosophy laid out in Cicero’s De Naturam Deorum (2.39.98–99), which presents nature’s diversity as earth’s adornment, to be cultivated and improved (or, literally, brightened) by mankind (Guest 2015, p. 37). The yellow panel itself depicts a harbour scene with temples, porticoes, and villa structures in the distance (Figure6). Visually and physically joined to what would have been a real view of nature outside the window (Bergmann 2010, p. 14), this is an image that showcases, in Cicero’s terms, the brightening work of manmade ornament, and that frames the Roman villa as a symbol of cultivated luxuria (Bergmann 1991; Zarmakoupi 2014). Although the panel is commonly described as a marble bas-relief (Mulliez-Tramond 2010, p. 135; Platt 2017, p. 112), the figures and buildings are impressionistically rendered with loose creamy brushstrokes that recall the highlights on the columns’ jewels and instead suggest a reflective, perhaps even translucent surface. More than on marble, this is how images appear on intaglio and cameo gems when held up to the light, shimmering on the edge of visibility. In fact, a first-century CE cornelian intaglio in St. Petersburg is carved with a very similar seaside scene, with sailboats, fishermen, and a coastal villa (The State Hermitage Museum, inv. ГР-21685) (Figure7); the stone glows yellow when lit from behind.

7 On luxury as an abuse of nature, see (Zanda 2011, p. 1; Bradley 2009, p. 88). Arts 2019, 8, 60 13 of 26 Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 27 Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 27

Figure 5. North wall of cubiculum M, Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale. New York: FigureFigure 5. 5.North North wallwall ofof cubiculum cubiculum M,M, Villa Villa of of Publius Publius Fannius Fannius Synistor Synistor at at Boscoreale. Boscoreale. NewNew York:York: Metropolitan Museum. Photograph: © 2000–2019 The Metropolitan Museum of Art available under MetropolitanMetropolitan Museum. Museum. Photograph: Photograph:© © 2000–20192000–2019 TheThe MetropolitanMetropolitan MuseumMuseum ofof Art Art available available under under Creative Commons licence CC0 1.0. CreativeCreative Commons Commons licence licence CC0 CC0 1.0. 1.0.

FigureFigure 6. 6.Detail Detail of of monochromemonochrome panel and bowl, bowl, from from north north wall wall of of cubiculum cubiculum M, M, Villa Villa of ofPublius Publius FanniusFannius Synistor Synistor at at Boscoreale. Boscoreale. NewNew York:York: Metropolitan Museum. Museum. Photograph: Photograph: © ©2000–20192000–2019 The The Figure 6. Detail of monochrome panel and bowl, from north wall of cubiculum M, Villa of Publius MetropolitanMetropolitan Museum Museum of of ArtArt availableavailable under Creative Commons Commons licence licence CC0 CC0 1.0. 1.0. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale. New York: Metropolitan Museum. Photograph: © 2000–2019 The Metropolitan Museum of Art available under Creative Commons licence CC0 1.0.

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Figure 7. Figure 7. Cornelian intaglio with seaside landscapelandscape (set(set inin aa newnew ring).ring). St.St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Photograph: © The State Hermitage Museum/photo by Svetlana Suetova, Hermitage Museum. Photograph: © The State Hermitage Museum/photo by Svetlana Suetova, Konstantin Sinyavsky. Konstantin Sinyavsky. Although there is no archaeological evidence that carved precious stone panels of this size were Although there is no archaeological evidence that carved precious stone panels of this size were used as wall inlays in the Roman period, we know that cameo glass panels were (Powers 2011, pp. used as wall inlays in the Roman period, we know that cameo glass panels were (Powers 2011, pp. 19–20). Two blue glass cameo plaques depicting Dionysiac scenes were found in the House of Marcus 19–20). Two blue glass cameo plaques depicting Dionysiac scenes were found in the House of Fabius Rufus in Pompeii (VII, 16, 22) (Maiuri 1961, pp. 154–57), and excavations on the Oppian Hill in Marcus Fabius Rufus in Pompeii (VII, 16, 22) (Maiuri 1961, pp. 154–57), and excavations on the Rome recovered several large blocks of unengraved amethyst that may have been set into walls or Oppian Hill in Rome recovered several large blocks of unengraved amethyst that may have been set columns (Häuber 2015, p. 805). Glass revetments have also been found at the villa of Lucius Verus into walls or columns (Häuber 2015, p. 805). Glass revetments have also been found at the villa of at Aqua Traversa near Rome (Hemsoll 1990; Barry 2013, pp. 83–84) and in a number of houses in Lucius Verus at Aqua Traversa near Rome (Hemsoll 1990; Barry 2013, pp. 83–84) and in a number of Pompeii and Herculaneum (Vipard 2003). Whether fantasy or not, by conjuring the appearance of houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum (Vipard 2003). Whether fantasy or not, by conjuring the highly wrought translucent stone, the panel offers an alternative ‘view-through’ to that provided by appearance of highly wrought translucent stone, the panel offers an alternative ‘view-through’ to both the real window and the fictive vistas beyond the painted colonnades.8 that provided by both the real window and the fictive vistas beyond the painted colonnades.8 The juxtaposition of window and fresco already presents the fabricated world of the artwork and The juxtaposition of window and fresco already presents the fabricated world of the artwork the ‘natural’ world of the villa estate as equivalent works of culture. This marks Boscoreale as the ideal and the ‘natural’ world of the villa estate as equivalent works of culture. This marks Boscoreale as villa rustica, combining material opulence with agricultural productivity (Zarmakoupi 2014; Bergmann the ideal villa rustica, combining material opulence with agricultural productivity (Zarmakoupi 2002, 2013, p. 99), and the villa’s patron as curator and cultivator of his estate. However, if we think of 2014; Bergmann 2002, 2013, p. 99), and the villa’s patron as curator and cultivator of his estate. even this ‘gemstone’ as an eye, then the panel also offers a concentrated counterpoint to the anti-luxury However, if we think of even this ‘gemstone’ as an eye, then the panel also offers a concentrated invective of contemporary commentators, harnessing gems’ capacity to entice in order to promote or counterpoint to the anti-luxury invective of contemporary commentators, harnessing gems’ capacity reinforce the desirability of the kind of materialistic luxury living Boscoreale afforded. Pliny implies to entice in order to promote or reinforce the desirability of the kind of materialistic luxury living that gemstones could provide a soothing filter—or tempting look—for potentially discomfiting sights Boscoreale afforded. Pliny implies that gemstones could provide a soothing filter—or tempting by relating how Nero watched gladiator fights through an emerald screen (NH 37.64). Given Nero’s look—for potentially discomfiting sights by relating how Nero watched gladiator fights through an infamous fascination with gladiators, we might say this gem seduced the viewer as well as softening emerald screen (NH 37.64). Given Nero’s infamous fascination with gladiators, we might say this the view (e.g., Suet. Nero 30.2), intimating at how the Boscoreale jewels may likewise have charmed gem seduced the viewer as well as softening the view (e.g., Suet. Nero 30.2), intimating at how the their audience. Boscoreale jewels may likewise have charmed their audience.

8 Durchblicke (‘views-through’) and Ausblicke (vistas) are characteristic features of Second Style wall painting, the former denoting the recession of space through architectural structures (Drerup 1959; Ehrhardt 1991).

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4. The Villa under the Farnesina The illusionistic architecture of the Second Style transformed during the 20s BCE into abstracted, miniaturist confections that no longer denied the spatial limits of the room, but instead provided ornamental frames for Greek style panel-pictures (pinakes) painted as though truly hanging on the wall (Bastet and de Vos 1979; Scagliarini 1974–1976). This so-called Third Style of Pompeian painting is defined by what Agnès Rouveret has termed an “aesthetics of intimacy” that privileged slenderness, delicacy, and the small-scale, facilitating displays of connoisseurship and refined taste by encouraging close-up, slow-paced viewing and so providing a visual complement to the elegance and self-conscious classicism of Augustan literature (Rouveret 2015; Platt 2009, p. 44; Clarke 1993, p. 49). If the painted gems on the walls of the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor advocated the bombastic, world-facing materialism of the late Republic, then their Third Style equivalents were as integral to the promotion of this new mode of rarefied, private looking. Real gemstones were celebrated in literature for their virtuoso miniaturist carving and flashy materiality, which attracted attention and rewarded close examination (Allen 2016, pp. 25–27). Gems consequently lent themselves to contexts of privileged viewing and the one-to-one display of artistic erudition, and so were much coveted during the Augustan period by an imperial elite eager to showcase their sophisticated appreciation of Greek culture: It is no surprise that early imperial gems are distinctively Greek in style and subject matter (Plantzos 1999, p. 94), or that antique examples with genuine Greek provenance were especially sought after (Pliny NH 37.3–7; Juvenal 6.156–157). Perhaps the most notorious connoisseur of this time was Maecenas, who we know decorated the walls of his domus with real jewels, and who accrued an impressive personal collection (NH 8.170). He even appears to have written poetry about gems (Petrain 2005, pp. 344–49). Plutarch also describes a man known as a ϕιλoλιθ´ oς (a “lover of precious stones”), who is delighted when a friend asks to study one of his intaglios (De Ira. Coh. 462d). However, as we have already seen, gemstones were objects of erotic desire as well as symbols of wealth and status, hinting at how the intellectual frisson of looking at gems might slide into something more sensual. In elegy and satire, gems adorn the bodies of high-class prostitutes and adulterous wives (e.g., Horace Sat. 1.2.80; Propertius 2.16.11–16; 2.22a.10; Tibullus 1.6.24 and 2.4.21–30; Juvenal 6.457–460), who wear them to attract lovers or else demand them in exchange for sex, rendering them synonymous with female licentiousness (Olson 2008, p. 20; Kapparis 2017, pp. 88–91). Perhaps the most infamous jewelled woman in imperial literature is Cleopatra, who we are told dressed herself, Aphrodite-like, with emeralds and other precious stones in order to seduce Mark Antony and Julius Caesar (Plutarch Antony 26.1–4; NH 9.119–21). Engraved gems were given as love tokens in this period, too (Henig 1995, p. 74), and the popularity of images of Aphrodite, Dionysus, and their respective entourages only makes gems’ association with voluptuousness and pleasure more emphatic (Allen 2016, pp. 89–90). As such, the choice to depict gemstones as decoration in Third Style frescoes pushes Rouveret’s aesthetic of intimate viewing into one of tactile, sensuous delight, promoting the desirability of refinement itself. The conceit is already established in the early Augustan villa under the Farnesina in Rome, which was possibly owned by Agrippa (Moorman 2010), and is now preserved in the Palazzo Massimo. Bridging the transition from the Second to the Third Style (Clarke 1993, p. 12), the walls of ‘cubiculum B’ are decorated with a series of framed ‘panel-pictures’ some of which are executed with a delicate line and formal style reminiscent of 5th-century BCE Athenian vase-painting (Platt 2009, p. 41). These pinakes are ‘mounted’ within a trompe l’oeil aedicula of coloured marble plinths, pilasters, and architraves, including imitation wrought metal plaques chased with floral motifs set with illusionistic cabuchon gems (Bragantini and de Vos 1982, pp. 39, 128–39, 155) (Figure8). Just as at Boscoreale, these painted jewels enhance the tactile materiality of the fresco and the convincing suggestion of three-dimensionality. By evoking the look and feel of real gem-encrusted objects, they also bring to mind contemporary contexts of acquisition and display, celebrating material splendour as a boon of empire. It is no surprise, therefore, that they are located on the walls of a cubiculum: Arts 2019, 8, 60 16 of 26

Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 16 of 27 Amongst other functions, this was a room that was considered an appropriate space for exhibiting prizedappropriate artworks, space including for exhibiting paintings, prized sculptures, artworks and, including gemstones paintings, (Riggsby sculptures, 1997, pp. 38–39).and gemstones (Riggsby 1997, pp. 38–39).

Figure 8. Left wall of cubiculum B, with faux gem-studded plaques, Villa under the Farnesina. Rome: Palazzo Massime alle Terme. Photograph: Adam Eastland Art + Architecture/Alamy Stock Photo. Palazzo Massime alle Terme. Photograph: Adam Eastland Art + Architecture/Alamy Stock Photo. The gems’ association with sensual pleasure is also emphatic. Mounted on faux marble orthostats, The gems’ association with sensual pleasure is also emphatic. Mounted on faux marble these gem-studded plaques help create the setting for the central pinax on the left wall, which depicts orthostats, these gem-studded plaques help create the setting for the central pinax on the left wall, Aphrodite seated at her toilette, attended by one of the Graces and a winged Eros (Figure9). Painted which depicts Aphrodite seated at her toilette, attended by one of the Graces and a winged Eros in elegant outline on white-ground, minute detail and thin washes of precisely applied colour draw (Figure 9). Painted in elegant outline on white-ground, minute detail and thin washes of precisely attention to the delicacy and finesse of the goddess’ ornaments, including her ornate crown, gold applied colour draw attention to the delicacy and finesse of the goddess’ ornaments, including her jewellery, elaborate sandals, and diaphanous purple drapery. Each figure is, moreover, shown holding ornate crown, gold jewellery, elaborate sandals, and diaphanous purple drapery. Each figure is, a different luxury object—a slender sceptre by Eros, a gauzy veil by the Grace, and a delicate purple moreover, shown holding a different luxury object—a slender sceptre by Eros, a gauzy veil by the flower by Aphrodite herself—that visualise the intimacies of refinement and further excite the viewer’s Grace, and a delicate purple flower by Aphrodite herself—that visualise the intimacies of refinement desire to touch. and further excite the viewer’s desire to touch. Looking at Aphrodite’s flower, it is hard not to think of the goddess’ association with amethysts, Looking at Aphrodite’s flower, it is hard not to think of the goddess’ association with which are likened by Xenophon of Ephesus to pale purple buds, just beginning to open (Aethiopica 5.13). amethysts, which are likened by Xenophon of Ephesus to pale purple buds, just beginning to open In fact, the bloom echoes two purple-tinted faux silver rosettes that adorn the aedicula directly above (Aethiopica 5.13). In fact, the bloom echoes two purple-tinted faux silver rosettes that adorn the the painting, and that each carry a blue cabuchon gemstone at their centre (Bragantini and de Vos, pl. aedicula directly above the painting, and that each carry a blue cabuchon gemstone at their centre 43, p. 130). It also mirrors the gem that Eros wears on his chest mounted on a gold body-chain. Riffing (Bragantini and de Vos, pl. 43, p. 130). It also mirrors the gem that Eros wears on his chest mounted once more on the dual meaning of gemma, this triangulation of blossom, gemstone, and flower-like on a gold body-chain. Riffing once more on the dual meaning of gemma, this triangulation of jewel conflates the erotics of Aphrodite’s toilette—which we know from myth is always a precursor blossom, gemstone, and flower-like jewel conflates the erotics of Aphrodite’s toilette—which we to seduction—with the sensory delights of luxurious décor. If, as several scholars have suggested, know from myth is always a precursor to seduction—with the sensory delights of luxurious décor. the painting’s classicising style afforded its viewer a chance to exhibit their knowledge of Greek art If, as several scholars have suggested, the painting’s classicising style afforded its viewer a chance to history (Squire 2017, pp. 606–11), then this appeal to the pleasures of adornment also extolled the exhibit their knowledge of Greek art history (Squire 2017, pp. 606–11), then this appeal to the attractions of cultured sophistication. However, that is not all. Positioned like a pair of eyes above the pleasures of adornment also extolled the attractions of cultured sophistication. However, that is not pinax, the gem-flowers once again turn the viewer of the painting into a viewed object: Their looking all. Positioned like a pair of eyes above the pinax, the gem-flowers once again turn the viewer of the at Aphrodite looking at the flower is observed and made public. As Elsner has argued with regard painting into a viewed object: Their looking at Aphrodite looking at the flower is observed and made to depictions of Narcissus within the Roman house, this refraction of sightlines makes viewing itself public. As Elsner has argued with regard to depictions of Narcissus within the Roman house, this the subject of the painting (Elsner 2007, p. 175). In a world in which the display and discussion of art refraction of sightlines makes viewing itself the subject of the painting (Elsner 2007, p. 175). In a was a marker of status and privilege, these gems put the viewer’s connoisseurship and erudition in world in which the display and discussion of art was a marker of status and privilege, these gems the spotlight. put the viewer’s connoisseurship and erudition in the spotlight.

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Figure 9. Fresco panel from cubiculum B, Villa under the Farnesina. Rome: Museo Nazionale Figure 9. Fresco panel from cubiculum B, Villa under the Farnesina. Rome: Museo Nazionale (Palazzo Massime(Palazzo Massime alle Terme). alle Photograph: Terme). Photogra Scala,ph: Florence Scala,/ Florence/LucianoLuciano Romano. Romano.

5. The Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus To demonstratedemonstrate howhow the the depiction depiction of of gems gems developed developed in in the the mature mature Third Third Style, Style, I turn I turn now now to the to fragmentarythe fragmentary frescoes frescoes from from cubiculum cubiculum 4 in the 4 Villain the of NumeriusVilla of Numerius Popidius Florus,Popidius also Florus, at Boscoreale, also at andBoscoreale, painted and in the painted first halfin the of first the firsthalf centuryof the first CE century (Schefold CE 1960 (Schefold, p. 92, 1960, pl. 4; p. 1962 92, ,pl. p. 4; 95, 1962, pl. 172,p. 95, 1; Vermeulepl. 172, 1; Vermeule and Neuerberg and Neuerberg 1973, pp. 1973, 42–43, pp. no. 42–43, 93; Oettel no. 93; 1996 Oettel, pp. 1996, 250–51, pp. no.250–51, 21.5c). no. What21.5c). would What havewould been have the been central the central section section of one of wall one is wall decorated is decorated with awith network a networ of slenderk of slender candelabras candelabras and attenuatedand attenuated Corinthian Corinthian columns columns supporting supporting ornate entablaturesornate entablatures that surround that asurround yellow faux-marble a yellow panelfaux-marble on which panel a framed on which pinax a framed appears pinax to hang appears (Figure to 10 hang). This (Figure pinax 10). depicts This a pinax seated depicts man looking a seated at aman draped looking woman at a draped who stands woman with who one stands arm resting with on one herarm hip resting and theon otherher hip about and tothe pull other a veil about from to herpull shoulders. a veil from We her do shoulders. not know We who do these not figuresknow who are, butthese the figures man is are, characterised but the man as ais philosopher characterised of theas a Cynic philosopher school byof the his raggedCynic scho clothing,ol by barehis ragged feet, and clothing, dishevelled bare feet, beard. and The dishevelled woman, meanwhile,beard. The iswoman, often catalogued meanwhile, as is a courtesan.often catalogued While thisas a need courtesan. not be true,While her this body need language not be and true, dress her hint body at sexuallanguage availability. and dress Her hint pose at replicates sexual availability. a well-known Her Aphrodite pose replicates statue-type a well-known that shows the Aphrodite goddess toyingstatue-type with that her veilshows (e.g., the Naples, goddess Museo toying Archaeologico with her veil Nazionale, (e.g., Naples inv. no., Museo 6396), Archaeologico as well as the numerousNazionale, imagesinv. no. of 6396), women as well undressing as the numerous that were popularimages of on women engraved undressing gemstones. that A were first-century popular CEon engraved glass cameo gemstones. in New York,A first-century for example, CE showsglass cameo a nude in woman New York, picked for out example, in white shows holding a nude her mantlewoman behindpicked her out as in though white in holding the final her stages mantle of a stripteasebehind her (Metropolitan as though in Musuem the final of Art,stages acc. of no. a 74.51.4244)striptease (Metropolitan (Figure 11). Musuem of Art, acc. no. 74.51.4244) (Figure 11).

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Figure 10.10. WallWall panel panel from from cubiculum cubiculum 4, Villa4, Villa of Numerius of Numerius Popidius Popidius Florus Florus at Boscoreale. at Boscoreale. Los Angeles: Los Angeles:J. Paul Getty J. Paul Museum. Getty Museum. Photograph: Photograph: courtesy courtesy of the Getty’s of the Open Getty’s Content Open Program.Content Program.

The woman’s gesture at Boscoreale is by consequence a visual come-on, directing her viewer (both The woman’s gesture at Boscoreale is by consequence a visual come-on, directing her viewer painted and real) to think about removing her clothing by him or herself, and her diaphanous purple (both painted and real) to think about removing her clothing by him or herself, and her diaphanous robe only emphasises her physical allure further: As well as by Aphrodite, purple was worn by brides purple robe only emphasises her physical allure further: As well as by Aphrodite, purple was worn and by prostitutes (Kapparis 2017, pp. 86–89; Oakley and Sinos 1993, p. 16). Cynics famously rejected by brides and by prostitutes (Kapparis 2017, pp. 86–89; Oakley and Sinos 1993, p. 16). Cynics physical and material desires, including luxury and sex, yet this philosopher appears transfixed by the famously rejected physical and material desires, including luxury and sex, yet this philosopher (promise of the) woman’s disrobing; she may be the object of his—and the viewer of the fresco’s—gaze, appears transfixed by the (promise of the) woman’s disrobing; she may be the object of his—and the but she is active in manipulating his desire. Like the Farnesina pinax, therefore, this is an image that viewer of the fresco’s—gaze, but she is active in manipulating his desire. Like the Farnesina pinax, delights in tempting its viewer to touch. therefore, this is an image that delights in tempting its viewer to touch. On its own, this is perhaps unremarkable, but I suggest that more is at play here. Across the On its own, this is perhaps unremarkable, but I suggest that more is at play here. Across the top top of the panel is a narrow grid-like frieze, painted in white and containing alternating purple and of the panel is a narrow grid-like frieze, painted in white and containing alternating purple and green squares. In terms of colour and form, the band replicates the appearance of an emerald and green squares. In terms of colour and form, the band replicates the appearance of an emerald and amethyst-set necklace or diadem: We might compare the first-century CE necklace of gold and emerald amethyst-set necklace or diadem: We might compare the first-century CE necklace of gold and beads excavated in villa B at Oplontis (Gazda and Clarke 2016, no. 186), or a late first-century BCE emerald beads excavated in villa B at Oplontis (Gazda and Clarke 2016, no. 186), or a late gold leaf diadem in Los Angeles decorated with green glass and purple garnets (J. Paul Getty Museum, first-century BCE gold leaf diadem in Los Angeles decorated with green glass and purple garnets (J. 75.AM.60) (Figure 12). An early second-century CE funerary portrait from Hawara now in London Paul Getty Museum, 75.AM.60) (Figure 12). An early second-century CE funerary portrait from

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Arts 2019, 8, x FOR PEER REVIEW 19 of 27 shows a woman wearing two similar necklaces of emeralds and amethysts strung with gold (British HawaraMuseum,Arts 2019, now8, acc.x FOR in no. PEER London 1994,0521.4) REVIEW shows (Figurea woman 13 ).wearing two similar necklaces of emeralds and amethysts19 of 27 strung with gold (British Museum, acc. no. 1994,0521.4) (Figure 13). Hawara now in London shows a woman wearing two similar necklaces of emeralds and amethysts strung with gold (British Museum, acc. no. 1994,0521.4) (Figure 13).

FigureFigure 11. GoldGold ring with glass cameo. New York: Me Metropolitantropolitan Museum of Art. Photograph: ©© 2000–20192000–2019Figure 11. The TheGold Metropolitan Metropolitan ring with glass Museum Museum cameo. of New Art availabl availableYork: Mee under tropolitan Creative Museum Commons of Art. licence Photograph: CC0 1.0. © 2000–2019 The Metropolitan Museum of Art available under Creative Commons licence CC0 1.0.

FigureFigure 12.12. Gold,Gold, garnet, garnet, and and and glass glass glass diadem. diadem. diadem. Los Los Los Angeles: Angeles: Angeles: J. PaulJ. J. Paul Paul Getty Getty Getty Museum. Museum. Museum. Photograph: Photograph: Photograph: courtesy courtesy courtesy ofof the the Getty’sGetty’s Open Open ContentContent Content Program. Program. Program.

AsAs Sarah Sarah PearsonPearson hashashas observed, observed,observed, scholarsscholars scholars havehave have longlo nglong recognizedrecognized recognized aa jewel-like jewel-likea jewel-like qualityquality quality toto ThirdThird to Third Style Stylepainting,Style painting,painting, but seldom but seldom acknowledge acknowledgeacknowledge that muralthat that mural mural artists artists mayartists may in may fact in haveinfact fact have been have been deliberately been deliberately deliberately copying copyingjewellerycopying jewelleryjewellery (Pearson (Pearson 2015, p. 2015, 39).2015, By p. p. 39). referencing 39). By By referencing referencing contemporary contemporary contemporary jewellery, jewellery, jewellery, the Boscoreale the theBoscoreale Boscoreale frieze frieze expresses frieze expressesfamiliarexpresses delight familiarfamiliar in luxurydelight goods, inin luxuryluxury but goods, unlikegoods, but thebut unlike three-dimensionally-modelled unlike the the three-dimensionally-modelled three-dimensionally-modelled gems from gems the gems Farnesinafrom from theorthe the FarnesinaFarnesina Villa of or Publius the VillaVilla Fannius ofof PublPubl Synistor,iusius Fannius Fannius these Synistor, Synistor, stones these do these not stones stones attempt do donot to not convinceattempt attempt to the convince to viewerconvince the of anythe viewermaterialviewer ofof reality. anyany material The frieze reality.reality. has instead TheThe frieze frieze transposed has has in insteadstead the formaltransposed transposed contingencies the the formal formal of contingencies real contingencies jewellery of into real of linear, real jewellerytwo-dimensionaljewellery intointo linear,linear, decoration; two-dimensionaltwo-dimensional even the decoration; finedecoration; white linesev evenen ofthe the fine boxesfine white white that lines framelines of theof the theboxes stones boxes that on that frame the frame fresco the stones on the fresco simulate the appearance of light catching on the edges of real gem settings, thesimulate stones the on appearance the fresco simulate of light catching the appearance on the edges of light of real catching gem settings, on the turnededges of into real a netlikegem settings, pattern. turned into a netlike pattern. Rendered in paint, the gems have been recast unavoidably as turnedRendered into in paint,a netlike the gemspattern. have Rendered been recast in unavoidablypaint, the gems as ornamental have been motif. recast unavoidably as ornamental motif. ornamentalSuch flatness motif. is characteristic of the Third Style (Clarke 1993, p. 273), and has the effect of Such flatness is characteristic of the Third Style (Clarke 1993, p. 273), and has the effect of focusingSuch the flatness attention is characteristic on the fresco surfaceof the Third itself. Style In so doing,(Clarke the 1993, gem-ornament p. 273), and plays has onthe a effect common of focusing the attention on the fresco surface itself. In so doing, the gem-ornament plays on a common focusingliterary thetrope—implicit, attention on thetoo, fresco in the surface Farnesina itself . Infrescoes—that so doing, the elided gem-ornament female adornment plays on a commonwith literary trope—implicit, too, in the Farnesina frescoes—that elided female adornment with

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Artsliterary 2019, trope—implicit,8, x FOR PEER REVIEW too, in the Farnesina frescoes—that elided female adornment with architectural20 of 27 decoration. Already in the second century BCE, Plautus uses verbs of polishing and adorning to architecturaldescribe a courtesan’s decoration. toilette Already (Plautus in the Poenulussecond cepp.ntury 200–221, BCE, Plautus 229) and uses the verbs application of polishing of costly and adorningﬁnishing touchesto describe to aa housecourtesan’s (Plautus toiletteMostellaria (Plautuspp. Poenulus 101, 126), pp. presenting 200–221, 229) the and former the asapplication an example of costlyof unacceptable finishing touches luxus (Nichols to a house 2010 ,(Plautus pp. 47–56). Mostellaria In Augustan pp. 101, elegy, 126), women’s presenting makeup the former is likened as an to examplestucco, gilding, of unacceptable and paint, luxus reminding (Nichols us 2010, that thepp. materials47–56). In used Augu forstan cosmetics elegy, women’s and jewellery makeup were is likenedoften the to same stucco, as those gilding, used and by ancient paint, artistsreminding to adorn us domesticthat the materials spaces (Olson used 2008 for, p.cosmetics 309). Lucian and jewellerymeanwhile were warns often against the same making as those speeches used by in anci grandent buildings, artists to adorn where domestic words are spaces overwhelmed (Olson 2008, by p.ornate 309). interiors Lucian inmeanwhile the same waywarns that against an overly making adorned speeches woman in isgrand masked buildings, by the glitter where of words her jewels are overwhelmed(Lucian De Domo by 15).ornate interiors in the same way that an overly adorned woman is masked by the glitter of her jewels (Lucian De Domo 15).

Figure 13. Funerary portrait of a woman. London: Br Britishitish Museum. Museum. Photograph: Photograph: ©© 20172017 Trustees Trustees of thethe British British Museum Museum available under Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.4.0.

The transformation of of gem-set jewellery to to fresco motif, from from one one medium and and order of representationrepresentation to to another, another, is also an example of the kind of artificialartificial mannerism that concerned Vitruvius in his discussion of early imperial wall painting and was condemned as a marker marker of of luxury luxury (De Arch.Arch. 7.5.3).7.5.3). However, However, where where writers writers use theuseanalogy the analogy of personal of personal adornment adornment to domestic to ornamentdomestic ornamentto condemn to thecondemn artificiality the artificiality of women’s of constructed women’s constructed appearances appearances (see e.g., Sharrock (see e.g., 1991 Sharrock; Rimell 1991;2006, Rimellp. 1; Wyke 2006, 1994 p. 1;, Wyke pp. 141–46), 1994, pp. I suggest141–46), thatI suggest the cubiculum that the cubiculum fresco turns fresco this turns anxiety this onanxiety its head on its to headinstead to instead promote promote the pleasures the pleasures of luxurious of luxurious surface su decoration.rface decoration. It is clear It is fromclear from what what we have we have seen seenthat preciousthat precious stones stones offered offered an excuse an excuse to touch to to beautifuluch beautiful women, women, and that and this th encouragedat this encouraged the viewer the viewerof painted of painted gems to gems think to about think caressingabout caressing the stones the stones similarly. similarly. However, However, in cubiculum in cubiculum 4, there 4, there is no is no pretence that touching these gems would be any different to touching the wall, transferring their allure to the fresco itself. Indeed, the stones are applied to the fresco as secco overpainting, like jewels to a body (personal communication Maria Svoboda; see also Clarke 1987, p. 269).

Arts 2019, 8, 60 21 of 26 pretence that touching these gems would be any different to touching the wall, transferring their allure to the fresco itself. Indeed, the stones are applied to the fresco as secco overpainting, like jewels to a body (personal communication Maria Svoboda; see also Clarke 1987, p. 269). Nor are they the only luxury objects to be turned into decoration on the aedicula frame. The Corinthian columns that flank the yellow panel are each topped with a miniature silver jug, the sinuous handles of which echo the angle of the woman’s bent elbow, as though aligning her physical allure with their material glamour. Beneath the yellow panel, a tiny vignette depicts a swan grazing alongside a selection of jewel-like fruits, including cherries. Coloured silver and with curving neck, this bird also replicates the appearance of the metal vessels, and is likewise transformed into a comparably luxurious decorative element. A common attribute of Aphrodite, the swan underscores the sensory delight that looking at luxury—and at such artistic playfulness—brings. The cherries conjure pleasure in other ways, too: Reportedly introduced to Italy by Lucullus, who brought trees back to Rome as spoils from his eastern campaigns (Carroll 2015, p. 547), they were a feature of his lavish private gardens on the Pincian hill, which provided a stage-set for his notoriously hedonistic lifestyle (Von Stackelberg 2009, pp. 76–78). The necklace-frieze consequently provides the thread that links the persuasive delights of female bodies to these material privileges of luxus and elides them all with the fresco itself, translating the eroticism of the panel-picture to the pleasures of the wall painting by drawing the viewer’s gaze with their eye-like glimmer and material magnetism.9 We might even imagine that the frieze represents the woman’s jewels, already removed and transferred to (or cast around) the wall—just as in Philostratus’s proem. Although not all painted gems in Third Style frescoes framed depictions of women (as in room 25 at Oplontis A), the Boscoreale frieze consequently points to the ways in which the representation of gems as two-dimensional decorative motives not only reflected delight in luxury goods, but enticed desire for them.

6. Conclusions By drawing attention to the depiction of gemstones in Second and Third Style wall painting, this paper has attempted to demonstrate the value of taking a closer look at the small details of Roman mural art and of gems in particular—objects which, like ornament itself, have long been side-lined in traditional accounts of Greek and Roman art history (see Lapatin 2015 for historiography). It does not claim to be a comprehensive catalogue of the phenomenon, but instead offers a series of case studies, exploring some of the ways that gems are represented and the impact of that representation on their viewer. To that end, we have seen that gems-as-ornament proved powerful vehicles of concentrated enargeia, not only enhancing the poikilia of the fresco surface with extra colour and light, but also adding texture and at times sharpening the suggestion of three-dimensionality through their haptic allure. We have suggested this was vital to the convincing illusionism of mural painting. Read alongside literary descriptions of gems and consideration of their cultural symbolism, we have also seen that artists attended closely to the material qualities of precious stones—which could be eye-like in terms of their radiance and their capacity to compel—as a way of engaging the viewer physically with the sensory delight of wall painting and so with the seductions of refinement more broadly. This might be to extol the pleasures of material affluence, the satisfactions of sophisticated connoisseurship, or else the delights of surface embellishment itself, all of which is to argue for the ways in which elites used the depiction of gems to advocate the desirability of luxus in their homes. Acknowledging painted gems as objects that were both passively sensed and actively sensing, this finally offers an alternative methodology for the rehabilitation of Roman ornament—and perhaps of ornament more broadly. Rather than stressing the inseparability, or even synonymy, of figure and

9 As Clarke notes, erotic paintings in domestic contexts signalled luxury as much as they did sex (Clarke 1998, pp. 127–94). Arts 2019, 8, 60 22 of 26 decoration as others have done, this paper instead gives agency to ornament’s superﬁciality and sensual charm, proposing that the power of painted gems rested in their ability to bring light and life to the surfaces they adorned, making the fresco more vivid and its message persuasively palpable.

Funding: This research received no external funding. Acknowledgments: This research was undertaken during my term as a Visiting Academic at the Institute of Classical Studies in London, and I am grateful to Greg Woolf and to the staff of the ICS Library for their assistance and support. Thanks, too, to Joanne Dyer, Joan Mertens, Christl Faltermeier and Regina Gee for many fruitful conversations and helpful comments during the course of this project; and to Marie Svoboda and Monica Ganio for humoring my curiosity and kindly undertaking analysis on the Getty fresco. Thanks, finally, to Caroline Vout for her guidance and encouragement, and to the anonymous reviewers of this paper for their insightful critique. All errors are, of course, my own. Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.

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