OCCASIONAL PAPERS ON ANTIQUITIES, 8 Studia Varia from the J. Paul Getty Museum Volume I MALIBU, CALIFORNIA 1993 © 1993 The J. Paul Getty Museum 17985 Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, California 90265-5799 (310) 459-7611 Mailing address: P.O. Box 2112 Santa Monica, California 90407-2112 Christopher Hudson, Publisher Cynthia Newman Bohn, Managing Editor Project staff: Editors: Marion True, Curator of Antiquities, and Ken Hamma, Associate Curator of Antiquities Manuscript Editors: Benedicte Gilman, Angela Thompson, and Ilaria Dagnini Brey Designer: Kurt Hauser Production Coordinator: Suzanne Watson Petralli Production Artist: Eileen Delson All photographs by the Department of Photographic Services, J. Paul Getty Museum, unless otherwise noted. Typography by Andresen Typographics, Tucson, Arizona Printed by Gardner Lithograph, Buena Park, California Cover: Sphinx from terracotta relief. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum 79. AD. 195. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Studia varia. p. cm.—(Occasional papers on antiquities : 8) English, German, and Italian. ISBN 0-89236-203-0 : 1. Art objects, Classical. 2. Art objects—California—Malibu. 3. J. Paul Getty Museum. I. J. Paul Getty Museum. II. Series. NK665.S78 1993 709 ' . 3 8 ' 07479493—dc20 93-16382 CIP Contents Three Pairs of Etruscan Disc Ear Ornaments 5 LISA BURKHALTER Images of Piety and Hope: Select Terracotta Votives from 13 West-Central Italy STEPHEN SMITHERS Ein Terrakottarelief mit Sphinx und Greif 3 3 ANGELIRA DIERICHS Some Ionic Architectural Elements from Selinus in the 55 Getty Museum BARBARA A. BARLETTA Bellerophon and the Chimaira in Malibu: A Greek Myth and an 63 Archaeological Context HERBERT HOFFMANN Quattro statue in terracotta provenienti da Canosa 71 MARIA LUCIA FERRUZZA-GIACOMMARA Ein Horosspeer in Malibu 83 KLAUS PARLASCA The Getty Homer Fragment 93 MARIANINA OLCOTT A Silver Triton Handle in the Getty Museum 99 BERYL BARR-SHARRAR A Group of Late Antique Jewelry in the Getty Museum 107 BARBARA DEPPERT-LIPPITZ This page intentionally left blank 5 Three Pairs of Etruscan Disc Ear Ornaments LISA BURKHALTER The Etruscans' love for jewelry is evident in their art, along with mention of comparative works, is followed especially that found in funerary contexts.1 Excava­ by suggestions for methods of wearing the discs in tions of tombs in Etruria reveal the wealth of these antiquity, a discussion of prototypes for the discs, and people and the high quality of their craftsmanship finally a discussion of possible locations for gold work­ of gold, each fostered in part by the economic pros­ shops in ancient Etruria. perity of the orientalizing period. The Etruscan metal­ Set A (83. AM. 2.1) is the largest of the three pairs, workers perfected the techniques of granulation—the with each disc measuring 4.7 cm in diameter (fig. 1). application to a gold surface of small spheres of Each disc is composed of a circular sheet of gold gold in rows and patterns—and filigree—decorative encased by a thin, flat rim that projects slightly above designs formed from folded wire.2 Through these and below the sheet along the edge. The upper surface detailed goldsmithing processes, they produced elabo­ is decorated with seven rosettes, one in the center and rate necklaces, bracelets, rings, diadems, fibulae, and the remaining six encircling it. Each rosette has a cen­ ear ornaments. tral floral element connected by twenty-two radiate Among the finery worn by Etruscan women, strips to an encircling band of granulation, which is their ear ornaments are of particular interest. Various surrounded by folded ribbon. The spandrels between styles were popular at different times. During the the central and the surrounding rosettes are filled with sixth century B.C. gold disc ornaments and another unworked gold sheet. Each of the outer spandrels type of ear decoration, often referred to with the Ital­ contains a finely detailed woman's face produced in ian term a baule for its resemblance to a valise, were repousse with a granule positioned beneath the chin. popular in Etruria. While the a baule type was unique The decorative elements were probably made sepa­ to Etruria, the disc was popular in other areas of the rately and then arranged, pressed on the sheet, and Mediterranean as well. During the fifth century, the a heated slightly to adhere.5 On the back of the discs at baule style fell out of fashion, and another type of ear the center is a projecting hollow gold tube ending in a ornament, called en grappe for the grapelike cluster at small loop. Imprints of the rosettes on the upper sur­ the bottom of the design, then gained popularity in face appear on the back. Etruria during the fourth century. The disc apparently The closest stylistic parallel for these ornaments continued to be a fashionable article of jewelry into is a pair of discs in the Louvre that also has a design 3 the fourth century as well. made from seven rosettes, one in the center and the In 1983 the Department of Antiquities in the other six encircling it (fig. 2).6 The inner spandrels Getty Museum acquired three pairs of Etruscan gold here, however, bear some detailed granulation, and 4 disc ornaments that date from the sixth century B.C. the designs in the outer spandrels depict palmettes, Thought to be from Caere (modern Cerveteri), these also in repousse, rather than women's faces. pieces are beautiful examples of the Etruscans' skill in Like set A, the discs in the Getty's set Β goldworking and their decorative processes of gran­ (83. AM. 2.2) are made of a circular sheet of gold encased ulation and filigree. The fine condition of the pieces by a thin, flat rim that projects slightly above and below may indicate that they were not worn often in antiq­ at the edge of the sheet (fig. 3). Each measures 4.2 cm uity, but perhaps served as grave offerings, for use in in diameter. The decoration on the upper surface con­ the afterlife. A detailed description of these pieces, sists of a central rosette surrounded by two concentric 6 Burkhalter FIGURE ι Pair of gold Etruscan disc ornaments. Malibu, f. Paul Getty Museum 83.AM.2.1. FIGURE 2 Pair of gold Etruscan disc ornaments. Paris, Musee du Louvre Bj 43—44. Photo courtesy Musee du Louvre. rings of ornamentation. The central rosette is com­ every alternating fleurette is covered in gold dust. The prised of a granulated boss and three radiate leaves, outer band of decoration consists of twenty-eight each with a middle vein of twisted wire. Set between fleurettes, each made of a concave hemisphere of gold each of the leaves of the central rosette, slightly below sheet inset with a bead covered in gold dust in the the horizontal plane of the disc, is a three-dimensional center. Between this final area of ornamentation and lion's head worked in repousse. On either side of each the edge of the disc is a band of gold ribbon folded in lions head is a wire ending in a gold sphere. a serpentine form, followed by a strip of beaded gold The ornaments are constructed so that the cen­ wire. On the back of each disc, a small hollow gold tral rosette is set into the piece, below the plane of the tube that ends in a loop projects from the center. decorated surface. At the center of the underlying Two works may serve as stylistic parallels for sheet, a small circle of gold was cut away and replaced this pair of discs: a pair of similar discs in the collec­ with a concave hemisphere of gold sheet soldered at tion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York the back. This area cradles the central rosette. Imme­ (fig. 4) and a single disc in the British Museum diately surrounding this is a circle of gold spheres (fig. 5).7 Like the discs in the Getty Museum, these encased by a wide band of gold sheet covered with pieces have a central rosette surrounded by concentric tiny gold granules and finally encircled by gold wire. rings of decoration. More importantly, however, each The middle band of ornament consists of twenty disc bears a central rosette with three lions heads, fleurettes, each composed of a single granule set in a produced in repousse and set between three radiate circular spiral of gold wire; the central granule of leaves. These discs appear to have been assembled in a Etruscan Disc Ear Ornaments η FIGURE 3 Pair of gold Etruscan disc ornaments. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum 83. AM. 2.2. FIGURE 4 Pair of gold Etruscan disc ornaments. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1913, 13.225.30.Α-B. Photo courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art. FIGURE 5 Gold Etruscan disc ornament. London, British Museum GR 1980.2-1.42. Photo courtesy Trustees of the British Museum. 8 Burkhalter granules. The first band of decoration surrounding the central rosette is a strip of gold sheet covered with granules. The second band, consisting of forty gold spheres, is encircled in beaded wire. The third band of ornament consists of a pattern of alternating palmettes and lotus leaves worked in repousse. The final band of decoration consists of sixty-one convex hemispheres produced in repousse, each with a granule on top. The FIGURE 6 backs of the discs are heavily encrusted, perhaps from Pair of gold Etruscan disc ornaments. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum burial conditions.8 83.AM.2.3. While there does not appear to be any direct stylistic parallels for this pair, two individual discs in the British Museum share some decorative details.