Website Update - Ancient Coins & More!

Hello Customers, Friends & Fans of Clio Ancient Art:

Just a note to let you know we have updated our website’s Ancient Coins page to include some superb Roman Provincial, Elymais, early Islamic and Indian coins in bronze and silver. Along with Roman Imperial, Himyarite, Byzantine, Crusader and Armenian coins, we have a total of 16 specimens available -- http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c18_p1.html

Of course, we also have over 120 more examples of ancient art available, including –

·         Ancient Glass - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c13_p1.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c24_p1.html

·         Ancient Oil Lamps - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c14_p1.html

·         Cypriot Ceramics - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c1_p1.html

·         Egyptian Antiquities - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c2_p1.html

·         Greek Antiquities - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c3_p1.html

·         Roman Antiquities - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c15_p1.html and  http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c16_p1.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c17_p1.html

·         Byzantine, Near Eastern, early Islamic, Etruscan, Medieval and Migration Period antiquities - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c26_p1.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c21_p1.html

We’ve also added several volumes to our Art, Books & Publications page - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c25_p1.html  and we’ve updated our Sold Antiquities pages - http://www.clioancientart.com/id24.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/id25.html

Lastly, we’ve added a new Travelogues entry, a stroll through Herculaneum - http://www.clioancientart.com/id22.html

Do let us know if you find anything on our website to be of interest.

As always, thanks for looking and best wishes,

Chris M. Maupin

Clio Ancient Art & Antiquities

338 S. Sharon Amity Rd #407

Charlotte, NC 28211

704-293-3411 / chris@clioancientart.com

PS: Follow us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clio-Ancient-Art-Antiquities/247378388593

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM A BUCKLE?

In a recent blog entry we examined characteristics of a 5^th-6^th Century Frankish cloissone’ silver buckle (http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i163.html), a high status object. In this entry we will examine aspects of some rather more mundane but also much more typical buckles from Late Antiquity and the transitional period involving the migration of peoples into Europe, the end of Roman authority in the west and the consolidation of Roman power in the east (the Byzantine Empire).

A group of 5 Visigoth bronze belt plates on our website (http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i125.html), found in Spain and formerly in both an old Spanish and a California private collection, date to the 5^th and 6^th Centuries. By the early 6^th Century, what is now the Iberian Peninsula was no longer part of the Roman world but largely under the control of the Visigoth Kingdom. The material culture and art of the Visigoths, their close relatives the Ostrogoths and Heruli, and other migratory people who settled in the former European provinces of the Roman Empire, focused on small, finely crafted objects, including jewelry and articles of personal dress. Such objects made from precious metals and adorned with cloissone’, gilding and other high status techniques tend to receive much attention in museum exhibitions and catalogs but these are not typical. Most personal dress items, such as the buckles listed here, were crafted from bronze or iron and decorated with simple incising or chip carving.

Some common iconographic themes among all these objects include bird heads with large beaks, presumably raptors, and quadra pedal animals, usually quite stylized and sometimes nearly impossible to make out amidst a mass of contorted ornamentation. Viewing a close up of our group (http://webhosting.web.com/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=actual&linkpath=http://www.clioancientart.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Products/CA-09-126.JPG&target=tlx_new&title=A%20%20Group%20of%20Visigothic%20Bronze%20Belt%20Plates%20and%20Fragments) the small belt plate in the center is a good example of the large beaked bird motif. The 2 buckle plates on the left clearly portray animals of some type but any specific identification is impossible. The buckle 2^nd from right may include both animal and bird elements but these are far less distinct than on the other plates. A very clear related example of the beaked bird motif may be seen here (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=95393&partId=1&searchText=Byzantine+buckle&images=true&&page=1 ) on 2 mounts with all-over cloisonné garnet inlays in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, dating to the late 4^th-5^th Century, found at Kerch in the Crimea.

Buckles provide a remarkable insight into the transition of the formerly Roman European provinces into the semi-Barbarous states established by the now settled “Migration Period” peoples. In the later days of Roman control in western Europe, specifically the late 4^th and the 5^th Century, very large numbers of officers in the Roman army were of “barbarian” extraction, some rising to very high office. Increasingly, the weapons and objects of personal adornments used by Roman troops and their non-Roman opponents converged in terms of materials, effectiveness and even decorative treatment.  To illustrate the point, a late Roman (4^th-5^th Century) chip carved buckle in the British Museum (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=86295&partId=1&searchText=Roman%20chip%20carved%20buckle) shows a remarkable similarity in its surface treatment, which is chip-carved, to a Germanic, possibly Gepid, chip carved buckle, also in the British Museum (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=85657&partId=1&searchText=Germanic+buckle&images=true&page=1).

This convergence of styles was far less pronounced in the eastern provinces of the Empire – what we now call the Byzantine Empire (though the Byzantines themselves would not have understood this term, as they simply thought of themselves as Romans). A couple of complete belt buckles on our website, cast in the “cross and pelta” style, illustrate this: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i188.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i189.html. These show no hint of influence from the migratory cultures that had overrun the west. Their clean and solid lines suggest stability and authority. Far wealthier than the western provinces, and with central authority concentrated at Constantinpolis, the east was able, for the most part, to stay out of the chaotic relationships among the new semi-barbarous European kingdoms, and even to repel onslaughts from other migratory groups in the east, such as the Slavs, Avars, Alans and Huns.

Early Medieval Cloissone Decoration and a Frankish Connection on Our Website

Cloisonné was very popular decorative technique during the transitional period from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The name is derived from the French word “cloison” meaning “cell”. This refers to the technique of creating individual spaces by using thin metal wires or panels and filling these cells with garnets or other semi-precious stones or with colored enamel (glass paste). The most expensive cloisonné decoration involved garnets, typically imported from Sri Lanka. Enamel cloisonné was far more common and used on buckles and strap ends, weapon handles and scabbards, brooches, jewelry and many other small objects.

Although colored enamel decoration on metalwork had a long history in pre-Roman Europe, continuing through the Roman period in the western provinces, the particular type of cloisonné we are concerned with here seems to have reached Europe by contact with the migratory cultures of Goths, Vandals, Franks and others during the 4^th Century CE. This contact involved controlled settlement of some populations in exchange for military service, direct conflict with other groups (sometimes defeated militarily, sometimes paid off and kept at bay beyond the Roman frontiers) and forcible occupation of Roman territory, changing the cultural, political and artistic landscape of Europe over the next few centuries.

One object offered on our website, a Merovingian Frankish silver and cloisonné buckle dating to the 5^th or 6^th Century CE, is a high quality and illustrative example of this technique. Found in France and for many years in an old English private collection, this object (which may be found here: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i163.html ) features a deep red roughly heart shaped glass panel set into the silver buckle plate. 

During conservation work on the Staffordshire Hoard, which includes many small objects decorated in cloisonné technique, conservators at the British Museum have had the opportunity to study in detail methods used in assembling such objects. Of special interest is how the amber and other colored glass was made to adhere to the metal. Combined with earlier research on the Viking Sutton Hoo treasure, this has shown that various types of complex patterned metal foils were used both to assist in making the enamel adhere securely to the object and to accentuate its reflectivity, making the enamel “stones” sparkle by allowing light to pass through and bounce off the foil patterns beneath. They also found that in some cases during the many centuries they lay in the ground, the leaching of soil into the spaces between the enamel and the metal foils compromised this reflectivity, clouding the effect.

In the case of our Frankish buckle, this has also proven to be the case. While still beautiful in color, the fifteen hundred years this object spent in the ground resulted in a loss of the “sparkle” that would have been so obvious when the object’s former owner wore it. Like so many other antiquities that have been changed in color, texture or completeness by the passage of time, we must use or imaginations to visualize this object in its original appearance. Perhaps this is part of the allure of antiquities: not quite being able to touch the original reality of an object. As Leonard Barkan pointed out in his remarkable book Unearthing the Past, Archaeology and Aesthetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture –

“…anything that is uncompleted or has been robbed of its completeness by the passage of time both fascinates us and offers us the special vantage point from which the salient characteristics of moments in history are divulged. Or perhaps the fragment reveals one of our salient characteristics: the wish to enter historical moments via their breaks or discontinuities.”

Herculaneum: A Personal Photo Essay

We've created a new Travelogues entry on our website, a simple photo essay on Herculaneum. Here's the link --
http://www.clioancientart.com/id22.html

A Few Objects Added to Our Website

Hello:

If you like ancient glass, we’ve added a few nice items to our website –

·         A Late Roman Impressed Glass Amulet -- http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i350.html

·         A Roman Glass Unguentarium -- http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i415.html

·         A Roman Blue Glass Bangle --  http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i416.html

·         A Late Roman Impressed Glass Amulet -- http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i418.html

These are just a few of the 140 items – antiquities spanning 4,000 years in stone, metals, ceramic and textile, books, framed and unframed art and more -- currently available on our website at -- http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i418.html

We’ll be updating our Ancient Coins section in early June and will send out a notice at that time.

Thanks for visiting!

Chris M. Maupin

Clio Ancient Art & Antiquities

Our Links & Online Resources Page Updated

Our Links Page  http://www.clioancientart.com/id15.html  has been substantially updated, now with 40 links to online resources, ranging from general antiquities, ancient art and ancient history, to online museum collections and searchable databases, ancient coin resources, antiquities trade associations, print and online antiquities publications, and our own social networking pages, Blogs and groups. Something for everyone. Many of these link to still more online resources of use to antiquities collectors, museums and academia: http://www.clioancientart.com/id15.html