Guest of the issue – the State Hermitage Museum

Foreword 

Trofimova A.A. (Saint Petersburg). Modern studies of ancient heritage. Works of art and monuments of material culture ………. 9

Classical archaelogy 

Fine Art and Material Culture of the Northern Pontic Ancient Greek Colonies

Chistov D.E., Ilyina J.I., Shcherbakova O.E. (Saint Petersburg). Cookware and Kitchen Utensils from the Archaic Berezan Settlement  ………. 13

The article describes kitchen utensils, wheel-made forms of cooking ceramics, as well as inner construction of cooking stoves and ovens, explored during the archaeological survey in the North-eastern part of the archaic Berezan Settlement (located on the modern BerezanIsland, Mykolaiv region, Ukraine). Authors consider the problems of construction of ovens and their functions, types and origin, as well as the chronology of shapes of the kitchen utensils, which were used in everyday life by Greek colonists.

Keywords: archaology, Classical archaology, pottery, cooking ceramics, coarse ware, ovens, houses, Northern Black Sea region, Berezan, Archaic era, Greek colonization.

Eremeeva A.A. (Saint Petersburg).The Dynamics of Marketing between the Ancient Myrmekion and Heraklea Pontike in Antiquity (Based on the Stamped Amphorae Data)  ………. 26

The paper presents the study of 717 amphora stamps from Heraklea Pontike excavated in the ancient city of Myrmekion. Heraklean stamps from Myrmekion, those amenable to reading, were correlated with the list of names considered by Vladimir I. Kats, and also with his chronological estimations. On the basis of the calculation formula for the relative density of distribution of the amount of goods imported from one center to another, and the relative density of import into Myrmekion for each of the stamping periods in Heraklea were calculated. Based on these, the dynamics of marketing between the two centers was analyzed. In general, the intensity of finds of Heraklea stamps in the ancient city Myrmekion corresponds to the intensity of Heraklean trade at various stages. The hit of the trade relations falls on mid-380s-mid-360s BC and corresponds to the prosperity of both cities. Yet, there arises the problem of the War for Theodosia, which broke out at the said time. It seems likely that written sources exaggerated its significance for the economics of Bosporan cities. Clarification of this matter proposed in the article proves the importance of qualitative and quantitative analysis of archaeological materials, stamped amphorae in particular.

Keywords: amphorae stamps; Heraklea Pontike; Myrmekion; economic communications; dynamics of trade; archaeological excavations; War for Theodosia.

Kolosov V.P. (Saint Petersburg). The Myrmekion Ash Hill II and the Problem of Its Interpretation ………. 35

The article is dedicated to the research of archaeological complex known as an Ash Hill II, which is located on the territory of the Myrmekion ancient settlement. The article gives brief review of similar complexes which are typical for ancient religious tradition. It considers the history of one of the largest on Bosporus and the largest one in the Myrmekion settlement ash embankments research. Records about structure and chronological stages of the embankments` existing are provided in the article and these records based on statistical analysis of mass material. Different views on the problem of interpretation of the complex as a religious object are given in the article. Even now there are discussions about this problem in the science. This article attempts to find out the distribution of the finds connected with the sacral sphere in layers of the Ash Hill and on the basis of it, to come nearer to understanding the object functions.

Keywords: Northern Black Sea littoral, Bosporan sanctuaries, ash hill, mass archaeological material.

Radolitskaia J.S. (Saint Petersburg). An Attempt to Trace Mending of the 4th-century BCE Greek Golden Jewellery in Antiquity  ………. 42

The article is dedicated to a little-studied issue of repairing the pieces of Greek golden jewellery in the times of Classical Antiquity. The examples of repair work of different levels of complexity are analyzed: from mending the blank golden sheet and replacing single elements in complete object to some serious operations having led to some significant modifications in the construction and external form of the objects. The variety of objects is chronologically restricted by ones dated back to the IV century BC. In order to reveal the traces of the ancient repairing, there are postulated the principles of construction of the Greek pieces of jewellery of a given class, and then objects which do not comply with the principles are analyzed. The strongest violations were revealed in four objects which had been found at the periphery of the Greek world (Italy, Thracia, and North Pontic region), but originated from the workshops of the major cities and suffered from the «intervention» of the provincial jewelers. For example, the earrings from the Mogilan burial mound near the Bulgarian town of Vratsa (NationalArchaeologicalMuseum, Sofia). This piece of jewellery which had obviously been badly damaged was assembled by a provincial master in an arbitrary manner, and therefore the principles of element fixation were violated as well as the proportions were distorted because of replacing a multi-level garland with a single-level one. In the pendants from Kul-Оbа mound (The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) the length of the garland was increased, the order of its pendants was modified and several nonfunctional elements were added. In other pieces of jewellery with pendants from the same mound (State Hermitage, St. Petersburg) the jeweler combined a triangular plaque with a single pendant previously removed from another piece of jewellery, and thus some full-fledged and unique in their design objects emerged. In the earrings from Taranto (NationalArchaeologicalMuseum, Taranto) a separate adornment – a boat-shaped earring – was completed with an expensive but tasteless garland. Revealing such operations makes possible to research the destiny of the objects and reconstruct their original look; provides data for studying the places of their production and ways of their migration and it helps to understand the ideas among the jewelers; and also adds one more trait to the burial traditions of the given cultures.

Keywords: Greek jewellery, antique repair, history of restoration, provincial jeweler, jewellery of rich style, construction of Greek adornment, original shape of adornment, the Kul-Oba Barrow, the Mogilansky Grave, National Archaeological Museum in Sofia, National Archaeological Museum in Taranto, The State Hermitage Museum.

Jijina N.C. (Saint Petersburg). Remarks on the Typology of the Décor on Wooden Sarcophagi from Bosporus. Archaeological Finds in the Necropoli of Nymphaion and Pantikapaion  ………. 53

Against the background of the brief excursus into the history of the Bosporan Kingdom the author of the article enounces her view of the development of art and artful crafts in this region presenting artifacts from the unique Hermitage collection of wooden sarcophagi excavated in the necropoli of the Greek colonies in the European territories of Bosporus – especially Pantikapaion and Nymphaion. The HermitageMuseum holds the world’s most outstanding collection of such pieces of ancient applied art dating back to the period from the edge of the V–IV centuries BCE till early centuries CE. Items of extraordinary preservation, these samples of the ancient woodcarving that are either covered with painted decor, or ornamented with added applique, make it possible to imagine not only the development and specific character of certain types of sepulchral decoration usual in Classical antiquity, but also suggest formulation of larger issues. The latter are connected with the development and changes of aesthetic preferences in the antique society, as well as with the dawn and evolution of artistic types and varieties of the decor in the realities of provincial culture, unique in its distinctive features. The exact archaeological and historical context being the principal instrument to judge upon art and culture in general is especially significant for the above mentioned finds in the North Pontic Greek colonies.

Keywords: Bosporan Kingdom, Pantikapaion, Nymphaion, Bosporan necropoli, wooden sarcophagi from Bosporus, sepulchral decor, plaster cast applique, outskirts of the oikoumene, provincial art, art of Classical Antiquity, the Hermitage collections.

Fine Arts of Classical Antiquity 

Pieces of Antique Art in the Collection of the State Hermitage Museum

Trofimova A.A. (Saint Petersburg). Herodotus and Kleanthes: Metamorphoses of an Antique Portrait. To the Study of an Hermitage Sculpture from the Campana Collection  ………. 60

The author of the article presents a brief review of the Hermitage collection of ancient sculptures portraying several renowned Greeks – philosophers, orators and poets. A specific feature of the collection is that its items originate from certain historical collections of the XVIII–XIX centuries. The museum holds well-known portraits that echo numerous replicas in other museums around the world, and also items whose study was less detailed. A herm with the added phony inscription «Herodotus», which came to the Hermitage from the Campana collection, is under the author’s precise consideration. Having undertaken a deep research into the item’s condition, as well as into its reproductions and identifications published in the XIX century, the author re-creates the history of its restoration process tracing the change from some piece of art to the image of «the father of history». Through the analysis of today’s scholarly opinions on the analogues to the Hermitage herm (the Prado and the J. Paul Getty replicas) the author makes a conclusion that the herm should be referred to as a portrait of a stoic philosopher, probably Kleanthes. Based on stylistic analogues the suggested date of the original, after the herm is modeled, goes back as far as to ca. 280 BC, not the second  half of the V century BC as has been supposed by Oscar Waldhauer. Problems of the studies of Ancient Greek portraiture are quite typical for the antique Hermitage collection. The conclusions and results of this study are to be published in the Hermitage Corpus of antique sculpture – the collection’s full catalogue.

Keywords: ancient Greek portrait; collection of ancient sculpture at the Hermitage Museum; herm of Herodotus; portrait of Kleanthes; G.-P. Campana; The State Hermitage Museum; history of restoration.

Semenova J.G. (Saint Petersburg). Two panels of Roman sarcophagi with «half-open doors» from the Hermitage Collection. History of the monuments and the analogues  ………. 68

Two front panels of Roman marble sarcophagi, now held by The State Hermitage Museum are discussed in the paper. Both are decorated with relief that presents common symbolic motif, the so-called «half-open doors». The pieces belong to quite well-known and wide spread groups of Roman sarcophagusi – architectonic and strigillated sarcophagi with the similar motif, also known as «Hades’ doors», and many analogues to the Hermitage items are to be found in various museum collections. The author of the paper discusses typology, symbolism and interpretation of the principal subject, her reasons based on the analysis of monuments from Hermitage compared to the pieces from other museum collections – Palazzo Conservatori and the Vatican Museums in Rome, Alcazar at Cordoba, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi at Florence, Museum at Capua etc. The sarcophagi with the image of Hermes Psychopompus originates from the collection of a famous architect A. Montferrand. The information about its history collected by the author is also presented in the paper.

Keywords: The State Hermitage Museum; Roman sepulchral sculpture; architectonic sarcophagi; strigillated sarcophagi; «half-open doors»; Hades’ doors; symbolism of Roman sarcophagi; A. Montferrand’s collection.

Nikulina I.V., Andreeva E.M. (Saint Petersburg). The history of restoration of panels of sarcophagi with the «half-open doors from the Collection of the StateHermitageMuseum  ………. 75

This article considers two monumental sculptures from the collection of the Department of Classical Antiquities at the StateHermitageMuseum – panels of the so-called «half-open doors» sarcophagi. The exhibits have different origins and a long and complicated history of existence. One large bas-relief with strigillated ornament was transferred from the TauridePalace to the ImperialMuseum of the New Hermitage in 1851. The second sarcophagi was received in 1926 from the former Museum of Applied Arts at the Baron Stieglitz Central School of Technical Drawing. In the XIX century this monument was part of a large collection of ancient sculpture owned to the architect and builder of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, a passionate collector A. Montferrand. The article is focused on the description of the exhibits’ preservation. Sculptures have numerous features of old restorations made in different times. For example, gluing joints, marble and plaster additions and metal fittings.

Keywords: sculpture, antique monument, The State Hermitage Museum, sarcophagi, bas-relief, Tauride Palace, conservation, marble, plaster, Au. Montferrand, L. von Klenze, strigilato, Hermes.

Larionov A.I., Frolov A.P. (Saint Petersburg). Thinking about the Mosaic from Lod. An Afterword to the Exhibition at the Hermitage ………. 80

The authors of the article represent a detailed discussion on certain difficult aspects of ancient mosaic art. Specificity of the case is that both of the authors are not only art historians, but artists who teach and practice monumental decorative art, and thus they are highly experienced in the technique and technology of creating mosaic panels, various in scale and complexity. It is especially important, both in scientific and practical sense, that a detailed research of the genuine mosaic dating back to the Late Antiquity is undertaken by specialists who are able to appreciate the significance of a relatively newly found original example of ancient art typical for the exact region, in the given case – for ancient Judea, in the close vicinity of Lod in the territory of present-day Israel. Temporary exhibition of the Lod mosaic — this outstanding piece of Antique art – loaned to the StateHermitageMuseum in 2014–2015 became an occasion for the study which resulted in the published discussion and a master class for students of the Department of Monumental and Decorative Art of the Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design.

Keywords: Late Antiquity; mosaic; technology of creating mosaic panels; controversy; Lod; Israel; The State Hermitage Museum.

Classical Antiquity’s Legacy in Fine Arts and Culture of the New Age

Balakhanova J.B. (Saint Petersburg). Emblematic in the age of Catherine the Great. History of formation of emblematic part in the Russian Empress’ book collection ………. 91

The author of the article discusses various aspects in the history and formation of a comprehensive emblematic section of Catherine’s the Great Bibliotheque, and informs a reader about the Russian audience’s new experience of making acquaintance with European emblematic tradition, which happened during Peter’s the Great reforms. The latter resulted in certain fundamental changes in the reader’s attitude towards emblematic genre that germinated in the age of Enlightenment. Several popular emblematic subjects that found their implementation in Russian and West European fine arts are described separately. Emblematic part of the Russian empress’ book collection is reconstructed based on the hand-written systematic catalogue prepared by Catherine’s direct librarian Alexander Ivanovich Luzhkov, and now kept at the State Hermitage Museum Archive. With this document a reliable reconstruction of the said part of Catherine’s library becomes possible. Quite a few emblematic books and treatises that originate from the empress’ Bibliotheque, have been preserved up to now, partly kept in the collection of The State Hermitage Museum Library.

Keywords: emblematic, emblem, emblem book, Catherine the Great, Alexander Luzhkov, Library of The State Hermitage Museum, Archive of The State Hermitage Museum, Age of Enlightenment, perception of Classical Antiquity.

Kokareva S.V. (Saint Petersburg). Italian Glyptics of the 18th and 19th centuries in the HermitageMuseum. Ancient Monuments Reproduced by a Roman gem engraver Giovanni-Battista Weder ………. 105

The article considers works of gem engravers in the XVIII century. They dedicated a part of their creative life to reproduce and repeat making works and sculptures dating back to Classical Antiquity, which were created by predecessors. Among such artists is a little-known Roman gem engraver Giovanni-Battista Weder. The author of the article presents several art works of Weder, which reproduce certain ancient sculptures and gems. Two of twenty cameos made by G.-B. Weder that are held by the Department of West European Applied Art at The State Hermitage Museum were recently attributed by the author to the engraver. In his creativity Giovanni-Battista Weder appears as a typical representative of Roman glyptic of the last decades of the XVIII century. A consistent follower of Classical art, he used to repeat the original works rather than create them, but he was a highly experienced art professional and a virtuoso in technique of creating. He was appreciated by his contemporaries and had never lack of projects from, for instance, Vatican or Catherine the Great. Still, his revealed legacy is limited by the twenty cameos carved approximately in the late 1770s — 1780s, and kept at the Hermitage, as well as by several more pieces of art stored in other collections.

Keywords: Italian glyptic of the XVIII century; Giovanni-Battista Weder; rethinking and reworking the subjects of Classical Antiquity; Catherine the Great; The State Hermitage Museum.

Dmitrieva E.N. (Saint Petersburg).The Hermitage Collection of Prints from the Farnese Gems  ………. 111

The article studies a group of prints of engraved gems, stored in the Department of Classical Antiquities at the State Hermitage. According to the documents describing the acquisition and the deposit into storage, this category of prints for over fifty years has been thought to come from James Tassie workshop. However, during the inventorying process it became possible to redo the clarification of those things, and it resulted in identifying two groups of prints: one from the Ivan Betskoi collection and another from the Farnese collection of carved gems. Despite the fact that the catalogue of prints from the Farnese collection created in the end of the XVIII century is well-known to scholars, the prints themselves have never been published and were considered lost. His article presents the research thanks to which it could be possible to isolate the Farnese prints in the huge dactyliotheque of the State Hermitage museum, and for a once wrongly identified group of prints has got a status of independent and unique collection with provenance.

Keywords: prints of engraved gems, the Farnese collection, The State Hermitage museum, Bartolomeo Paoletti, intaglios, cameos.

Vasko D.S. (Saint Petersburg). An Odessa Collector Eugene A. Shumansky and His Collection of Antiquities ………. 118

The article tells about the collection of antiquities that was once held by an Odessa collector, junior captain (ober-lieutenant) E.A. Shumansky. It was unsuccessfully offered for sale to the Imperial Hermitage in the early XX century. This collection was partly represented on 12 preserved photographs. The antiquities were found in the Northern Black Sea region, some artifacts came from Italy and Greece, also including several forgeries. Nine items from this collection have been found in the OdessaArchaeologicalMuseum. The author has also got more specific information on the biography of E.A. Shumansky, who was not only an officer and an amateur collector, but also a writer and a monarchist. He was also known as «Napoleon» in the Odessa cardsharpers’ syndicate. This person and the fate of his collection are very typical for that time. In the end of the XIX–beginning of the XX centuries people in Russian Empire became very interested in collecting the ancient monuments. To fulfill the demand of this quick-growing market, the illegal excavations were activated, the forgeries were produced and some artifacts from Italy and Greece were resold. Because of a lot of collections of antiquities which were made and scattered across the Russian Empire some artifacts are able to be found in the local museums.

Keywords: E.A. Shumansky; The State Hermitage Museum; Odessa Archaeological Museum; Odessa Bulletin; Odessa Society for History and Antiquities, the Odessa Assembly of the Nobility.