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Form and meaning: scrollwork on the Ara Pacis, grotesques in furniture design - Gilles Sauron, L'HISTOIRE VÉGÉTALISÉE: ORNEMENT ET POLITIQUE À ROME (Éditions A. et J. Picard, Paris 2000). Pp. 250, 109 figs., 12 pls. ISBN 2-7084-0594-2. FF 290.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2015

Robert Cohon
Robert Cohon*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri–Kansas City
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Journal of Roman Archaeology , Volume 15 , 2002 , pp. 416 - 428
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Copyright © Journal of Roman Archaeology L.L.C. 2002

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References

1 Büsing, H., “Ranke und Figur an der Ara Paeis Augustae,” AA 1977, 247–57Google Scholar; L'Orange, H. P., “Ara Pads Augustae: La zona floreale,” ActaAArtHist 1 (1962) 7–16 Google Scholar. I wonder if Buchner's, E. Die Sonnenuhr des Augustus (Mainz 1982) influenced Sauron to see Egyptian elements in the scrollworkGoogle Scholar.

2 Moretti, G., Ara Paeis Augustae (Rome 1948) pls. 3-4, 10-12Google Scholar.

3 Büsing (supra n.1) 253. I use Koeppel's, G. (BJb 187 [1987] 101–37) numbering systemGoogle Scholar.

4 The Primordial Egg is “the source from which the world emerged”, according to Tobin, V. A. in Redford, D. (ed.), The Oxford encyclopedia of ancient Egypt, vol. 2 (Oxford 2001) 470 Google Scholar.

5 Büsing (supra n.1) 251-52.

6 Simon, E., Ara Pacis Augustae (Greenwich, CT, n.d) 19–20 Google Scholar.

7 Castriota, D., The Ara Paeis Augustae and the imagery of abundance in later Greek and early Roman imperial art (Princeton 1995)Google Scholar.

8 Ibid. 7-11.

9 Ibid. 23-25, 73, 106.

10 Ibid., esp. chapts. 1-3.

11 La Rocca, E., Ara Pacis Augustae: In occasione del restauro della fronte orientale (Rome 1983) 21 Google Scholar.

12 Pollini, J., “Ahenobarbi, Appuleii and some others on the Ara Pacis,” AJA 90 (1986) 458–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Pollini, J., The portraiture of Gaius and Lucius Caesar (New York 1987) 21–27 Google Scholar; Rose, C. B., “‘Princes’ and barbarians on the Ara Pacis,” AJA 94 (1990) 453–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dynastic commemoration and imperial portraiture in the Julio-Claudian period (New York 1997) 15–17, 104 Google Scholar; Kuttner, A., Dynasty and empire in the age of Augustus (Berkeley 1995) 100–6Google Scholar.

Rose (1997, 104) has also pointed out the boy's (N 38's) prominence: two women frame him and one draws attention to him, holding a laurel over his head. I find that the boy is in the center of group N 3344 and his head tops an arc rising from the heads of youths N 35 and N 41.

It is far from certain that S 20 is the flamen Dialis, as Sauron contends (67). S 24 is a prime candidate (see Billows, R. in JRA 6 [1993] 84–87 Google Scholar or Koeppel, G., BJb 188 [1988] 103 Google Scholar). In any case, Sauron's overall interpretation of the scene remains unaffected since a swan appears under S 20 and partially under S 24.

14 Pollini ibid. 20 n.8; Grant, M., From imperium to auctoritas (repr., Cambridge 1969) 143–45, 219 Google Scholar; Ehrenberg, V. and Jones, A. H. M., Documents illustrating the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (Oxford 1955) 93, no. 115Google Scholar; Banti, A. and Simonetti, L., Corpus nummorum Romanorum VIII (Florence 1975) 218 Google Scholar.

15 So identified by Pollini (supra n.12) 459-60.

16 Mathea-Förtsch, M., Römische Rankenfeiler und -pilaster (Mainz 1999) 145 Google Scholar, K 127, pl. 57.2 (Ara Pacis; note symmetrical buds on upper third of candelabrum); 141-42, K 119, pl. 9.3 (San Antonio).

17 Ibid. 139-40, K 113, pl. 75.2.

18 Ibid. 136, K 105, pl. 25.4 (Orange). On the following monuments probably the flowers are fully closed on top of the candelabra or candelabrum-like stalks: Golda, T., Puteale und verwandte Monumente (Mainz 1997) 96–97 Google Scholar, cat. 40, pl. 69.2 (Palazzo Doria Pamphili); 93-94, cat. 35 (Museo Nazionale Romano; for photo, Giuliano, A. [ed.], Museo Nazionale Romano, Le sculture 1.5 [Rome 1983] 141)Google Scholar; possibly on a table support in the Museo Nuovo Capitolino: Mustilli, D., Il Museo Mussolini (Rome 1938) 48, no.1, pl. XXXII.129Google Scholar.

19 Castriota (supra n.7) 7-8.

20 I thank J. Pollini for pointing out to me the finial-like forms on top of acanthus plants.

21 See, for example, Kraus, T., Die Ranken der Ara Pacis (Berlin 1953) 21–25 Google Scholar.

22 For two closed forms flanking an open one in a trident-like formation: Möbius, H., Die Ornamente der griechischen Grabstelen klassischer und nachklassicher Zeit (Munich 1968) pl. 9d (grave stele)Google Scholar; pl. 50c (bench support, Delphi); Cohon, R., Greek and Roman stone table supports (Ph.D. diss., New York Univ. 1984) 388–89Google Scholar, cat. 253; von Sydow, W., “Ein Rundmonument in Pietrabbondante,” RömMitt 84 (1977) 286–88, pl. 133.1 (table supports in the Palazzo Conservatori)Google Scholar. For opened forms flanking closed ones (not in a trident formation), see a pebble mosaic in Vergina: Salzmann, D., Untersuchungen zu den antiken Kieselmosaiken (Berlin 1982) 114, cat. 130, pl. 39.1Google Scholar.

23 Büsing (supra n.1) 253-54.

24 Compare Kraus's analysis (supra n.21) 9-10 of the scrollwork on the W and E panels.

25 Ibid. 13.

26 Elements of a grid or of some roughly comparable measuring system appear sporadically in other sections of the N and S sides. Their exact significance requires more research at the monument, which is now in restauro. Kraus (supra n.21) 12 wrote that few elements of the scrollwork on the N and S sides line up on horizontals and verticals.

27 Salzmann (supra n.22) 108, cat. 105, pl. 38.1; Castriota (supra n.7) 166.

28 Büsing (supra n.1) 253-54.

29 For the poses of S 20 and 24, see Rehak, P., “The fourth flamen of the Ara Pacis Augustae,” JRA 14 (2001) 286; note also Billows (supra n.13) 87Google Scholar.

30 An echoing secondary diagonal extends from S 23's apex and head, through S 22's raised right arm, to S 20's lower left arm.

31 Büsing (supra n.1) 253. Koeppel's restoration (supra n.3) 132-33 of N 27 shifts the figures behind it to the east.

32 Koeppel touches on the issue of the composition of figures around N 24 in JRA 5 (1992) 216–17Google Scholar.

33 Büsing (supra n.1) 253-54.

34 I have not accepted Conlin's, D. proposed reconstruction (JRA 5 [1992] 209–15)Google Scholar of an additional figure between S 36, Antonia Minor, and S 35, the man behind Tiberius. Her proposal would break the remarkable balances described in the text.

35 The line from Agrippa's feet to Tiberius' hand is paralleled by the lower edge of Agrippa's toga and the lower edge of Livia's pallium hanging below her left hand near her left knee. It is unclear to what extent, if at all, this area has been restored.

36 For the framing of Drusus Maior, see Kuttner (supra n.13) 107.

37 Büsing (supra n.1) 252.

38 Förtsch, R., “Ein Aurea-Aetas-Schema,” RömMit 96 (1989) 338 Google Scholar; Kraus (supra n.21) 12-13.

39 Kraus ibid.; Sauron, G., “Les modèles funéraires classiques de l'art décoratif néo-attique au 1er siècle av. J.-C.” MEFRA 91, 1 (1979) 208–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Förtsch ibid.

40 Kraus (supra n.21) 12.

41 Syme, R., The Augustan aristocracy (New York 1986) 65–68, 94, 318, 334–35, 399–401 Google Scholar. Kuttner's comments (supra n.13) 172-86, esp. 176-77, about Tiberius and Drusus Maior at the time of the Ara Pacis are very helpful here.

42 Büsing (supra n.1) 253 for Livia and Antonia Maior.

43 ‘Tellus’ is neatly set within the parameters of the lyre-shaped stalks that occupy the middle third of the ornamental relief; the children seem to echo the pair of scrolling flowers within the lyre-shaped formation; and the curves of the right arm of Tellus and the back of the child on her left echo those below. Each of the two ‘Aurae’ occupies the outer third of the panel, like the two long stalks rising from the lyre-shaped center. The curves of the mantles and of the sea-monster harmonize with those in the scrollwork below. The roughly triangular sections of the lower corners of the allegorical panel recall the triangular perimeter of the scrolling stalk that grows out of each side of the calyx and rises up along the edge of the frame. The swan in the ‘Tellus’ panel and the one below echo each other.

44 Kraus (supra n.21) 12-13, 24; compare Büsing (supra n.1) 247-48, 252.

45 Grassinger, D., Römische Marmorkratere (Mainz 1991) 163–66, cat. 8, pls. 38-39Google Scholar.

46 Cohon, R., “An early Augustan throne in San Pietro in Vincoli,” Boreas 8 (1985) 92–104 Google Scholar; Richter, G., The furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans (London 1966) 31, fig. 148 (throne from Oropos)Google Scholar. See also the seated figure with child from Cumae: Zanker, P., The power of images in the age of Augustus (Ann Arbor 1988) 312–13, fig. 245Google Scholar.

47 Cohon (supra n.22) 101-2. For the playful content of these works see Moss, C., Roman marble tables (Ph.D. diss., Princeton Univ. 1988) 371–73Google Scholar. Sauron (134) mentions a few griffins of earlier periods whose tails end in vegetation and then discusses the griffins at Delos sprouting acanthus scrollwork from their legs. I hope that he noted the playfulness of this design, where the entire tail has become a brilliant scrolling stalk (and even the hair on the lion's hind leg has been ‘acanthusized’).

48 Cohon (supra n.22) 101-2.

49 Moss (supra n.47) 268-73, see also, however, 373.

50 Cohon (supra n.22) 101.

51 Acc. 930.157. From Brummer Gallery. Max. height 54.2 cm; max. width c.27.8 cm; max. depth 7.3 cm. White Carrara marble, very fine grain. For comparanda: Mathea-Förtsch (supra n.16) 191, cat. 270-71, pl. 8.1-2.

52 Moss (supra n.47) 120-30.

53 Cohon (supra n.22) 87-88, 90-91, 339-41 (cat. 198, 198bis).

54 Cohon (supra n.22) 85-86, 89, 319-21 (cat. 182). Sauron (182) also seems to doubt my dating ( RömMitt 101 [1994] 87–96 Google Scholar) of the Soane relief, but without giving sufficient reasons.