Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 21. 1981 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1984)
Bronzes romains figurés et appliqués et leurs problémes techniques. Actes du VIIe Colloque International sur les bronzes antiques - Barr-Sharrar, B.: Two Roman decorative busts in the Metropolitain Museum, New York. p. 25–29. t. X–XV.
Alba Regia, XXI, 1984 В. BARR —SHARRAR TWO ROMAN DECORATIVE BUSTS IN THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK The collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York contains two unpublished Roman bronzes which may be discussed together as decorative appliqués of a Dionysiac nature Both have clearly identifiable prototypes in the Hellenistic period, and both were among the most popular subjects for those Hellenistic decorative busts which continued to be produced throughout the first and into the second century of the Roman Empire, possibly longer in provincial regions (*). The earliest of the two, the subject of which is by far the most frequent of the eight major categories of decorative busts, is a Silenus (Pl.X, 1) (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Inv. 55.129.2. Gift of the Estate of Dr. J, Mirsch, 1955). It can probably be dated to the end of the first to the early second century A. D. Twelve and three-tenths centimeters high, this is a highly decorative bust to which small forms and much ornamental inlay of silver and copper give colorful surface activity without much emphasis on sculptural mass. The lively, somewhat agitated visual effect recalls the impressionistic painting techniques of the so-called "fourth style". The modeling of the head is mannered, with a broad face, and little sense of bone structure. The eyebrows are very thick, and sharp in outline, protruding out over the eyes like ledges out from under which glare the silverinlaid eyes. The pupils were originally filled with another material, probably glass or stone. The nose is very small and flat, the copperinlaid lips are pursed and mute. The Silenus has a high, domed head and small animal ears. The exaggerated and somewhat dumb features of this little figure give him an animalistic appearance; at the same time, the exuberance and lushness of the garland on his head and the placement of the foliage and corymbs so low and near the face suggest vegetal aspects in his nature. Indeed, he appears to be an (1) For a comprehensive survey and discussion of this material, see B. BARR —SHARRAR, — The Hellenistic and Early Imperial Bust, (von Zabern, Mainz 1985). exotic creature of the woods or vineyards. All details are carefully rendered for their maximum decorative effect,, and the workmanship is of high quality. The beard is formed with the symmetrical corkscrew curls common to all Roman examples of the species, a tradition which begins in much less stylized form in Silenus masks on bronze and silver vessels of the late fourth century B.C. The goat skin this Silenus wears —tied with its cloven hoof over his right shoulder —has copper inlay in the overfold, and copper inlaid spots. The fillets on each of his shoulders are decorated with three inlaid copper stripes, and the fleshy left breast has a copper nipple. The inlay extends even to the corymbs : the centers of the berries are copper. Silver inlay is found on the chest, where little wedge-shaped areas suggest body hair. The oldest predecessors of this bust decorated the lower ends of fulcrum attachments at least as early as sometime in the second century B.C. or at the beginning of the first. This is attested by the superbly expressive bronze Silenus bust from a fulcrum found in an archaeological context in Delos (Skardhana quarter) with a terminus ante quern of 69 B.C., the earliest known example of its kind with a dated context (Pl.X. 2.). Professor Siebert, who published this bust (Delos Museum, Inv. E 579; Siebert 1973, 557—587; Siebert 1979, 173—176, pi. 103, fig. 1 ; also BCH, XCIII, 1969, 1039 for the context), has suggested that it could be as early as thefirst half of the second century B.C. but stylistically it is best dated to the second half of that century, perhaps the last quarter. Despite its small size — it is six and eight-tenths centimeters high, a little more than half the size of the Metropolitan Museum Silenus — in its massiveness of form and intense, daemonic facial expression, the Hellenistic bust contrasts sharply with the almost over-refined Roman example, where mass is broken into small parts and the pathos of expression has become secondary to the possibilities for ornamentation. Between such Hellenistic prototypes and the late early 25
