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XXXIV. A Description of four Bronzes found at Colchester: from the Collection of Henry Vint, Esq. In a letter from Charles Newton, Esq. to Sir Henry Ellis, K.H. Secretary
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2012
Extract
The three bronzes engraved, Plates XIII.—XVI. and exhibited by Mr. Vint to the Society of Antiquaries, Nov. 27, 1845, were discovered in the month of October last, on the line of railway now forming between Colchester and Ipswich, about a mile to the east of the Colchester terminus, and half a mile north of the town. They were dug up at the depth of about five feet from the surface; portions of red pottery, bronze, and lead, were found near them, and, at the distance of about six feet, a human skull and some horses' teeth. The spot presented no indications of having been a place of dwelling or of sepulture, but two or three hundred yards nearer the terminus is a small rising ground, in cutting through which the railway labourers are said to have found urns containing bones.
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References
page 443 note a Compare particularly the head of Silenus—Panofka, Terracotten zu Berlin, Pl. xlvi. Which much resembles this bronze in the expression of the features.
page 444 note b Silenus is not always bald: see Pistolesi, Il Vaticano illustrate), iv. tav. 7, for the celebrated statue of Silenus with the infant Bacchus in his arms. Cf. ibid. tav. 47. Labus, Mus. di Mant. ii. tav. 2; Mus. Chiaromont., tav. xl. xli. In these instances the hair of Silenus is represented hanging down in front of the wreath, but it is not parted, and the insertion of the roots is much higher on the forehead.
page 444 note c I. tav. 51.
page 444 note d Τὸν κροκόεντα Πρίηπος
Κισσὸν ἐϕ΄ ἱμέρτῳ κρατὶ καταπτόμενος.—Theocr. Epigr. iii. 3.
His statue, in the Mus. Pio-Clem. cited above, has the vine-wreath.
page 444 note e As an instance of such combination, may be quoted the statue in the Sculpture Gallery of the British Museum, Synopsis, 1846, p. 105, the type of which resembles generally that of a youthful Bacchus, but with the unusual peculiarity of ears elongated, and in form very like those of Satyrs. See the remarks on this type, Becker, Augusteum, i. p. 128, Pl. 25–6, where another statue, identical with this in every respect, is published, from the Sculpture Gallery at Dresden.
page 444 note f See the description of it in the Sale Catalogue of his antiquities, Mus. Mead. Pars I. p. 232.
page 445 note g The term Ήθογράϕος was applied by Aristotle to Polygnotus, Poet. c. vi.; cf. Pol. viii. 5; Poet. c. ii.
page 445 note h Suetonius, c. x. cf. Tacit. Annal. vi. 20, 45, where it is said of Caligula that, “etsi commotus ingenio, simulationum tamen falsa in sinu avi perdidicerat.”
Oculi Caio principi rigentes. Pliny, xi. 37 s. 54.
page 445 note j Statura fuit eminenti—oculis et temporibus concavis, fronte lata et torva, capillo raro ac circa verticem nullo, hirsutus cætera.—Vultum vero natura horridum ac tetrum etiam ex industria efferabat, componens ad speculum in omnem terrorera ac formidinem.—Suetonius, in vit. c. 1. Tanta oculorum sub fronte anili latentium torvitas—tanta capitis destituti et emendicatis capillis aspersi deformitas.—Seneca de Constantia Sapient, c. xviii. It is asserted in these passages that Caligula was bald, but he is not so represented on any of his coins or busts.
page 446 note k I. pl. 65. Compare for heads of Caligula, Becker, Augusteum, iii. pl. 127; Mus. Capit. ii. pl. 11; Barré, Bronzes d'Hercul. et Pompeii, vii. 2me série, pl. 17; Antichita d'Ercolan. v. Bronze, i. tavv. 57–8; Bouillon, Musée d'Antiques, ii.; Laurent, Musée Royale, Paris, 1816, ii. 2me série, Pl. 3; Mus. Florent. i. tab. v. fig. 2; Labus, Mus. di Mant. 1830, i. Pl. 43. In the description of this last bust, ibid. p. 193, the characteristics in the countenance of Caligula which we have already pointed out are noticed.
page 446 note l Mionnet, i. p. 24, No. 183; Eckhel, Doctr. Num. Vet. i. p. 28.
page 446 note m Mionnet, v. p. 174, No. 220.
page 446 note n Found in France; see Caylus, Recueil des Antiquités, vii. pl. 76.
page 446 note o The practice of inlaying metals is mentioned by several ancient authors; see Pausan. v. 11, in the description of the sceptre of the Olympian Zeus, Athen. xi. 76; p. 488; and one variety of this kind of art appears to be alluded to in the following passage of Pliny, xxxiv. 17, s. 48. “Album incognitur æreis operibus Galliarum invento, ita ut vix discerni possit ab argento, eaque incoctilia vocant. Deinde et argentum incoquere simili modo cœpere equorum maxime ornamentis, jumentorum jugis, in Alesia oppido; reliqua gloria Biturigum fuit. Cœpere deinde et esseda et vehicula et petorrita exornare; similique modo ad aurea quoque, non modo argentea, staticula inanis luxuria pervenit; quæque in scyphis cerni prodigium erat, hæc in vehiculis atteri cultus vocabatur.” See Lebeau, Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscript. xxxix. p. 444; Beckmann, Beyträge zur Geschichte der Erfindungen, iv. p. 363. Several examples of silver inlaid in bronze have been found with late Roman remains in this country. The attribution of the invention of inlaying metals to the Gauls in this passage illustrates the statement of Philostratus, that the barbarians of the ocean were skilled in the art of enamel, Imagin. i. c. 28, quoted by Mr. Way, Archaeological Journal, ii. p. 156.
page 446 note p Tacit. Annal. xii. 32. Jenkins on the site of Camulodunum, Archæolog. xxix. p. 253.
page 447 note q Tacit. Annal. xiv, 32.
page 447 note r Morant, History of Colchester, iii. c, 4.