6 research outputs found
A study of Hellenistic gilding practice and manufacture of funerary wreaths
A number of fragments from four Hellenistic wreaths were studied
in order to better understand their manufacture and to identify
suitable conservation treatment (Asderaki 2001). They were
excavated during rescue work by the 13th Ephorate of
Prehistorical and Classical Antiquities at the cemetery of ancient
Demetrias in Magnesia, Central Greece. Three of the wreaths
studied date to the early 3rd century BC, and one to the late 2nd
century BC. Sampling was governed by the availability of fragments
remaining from the conservation process, and analytical
methods were chosen to provide as much insight as possible into
the production and corrosion of these wreaths. In this paper, we
concentrate on the gilding practices as well as manufacture techniques
identified in the samples.
The wreaths were made to a high standard of craftsmanship,
using often high quality material: ample gold leaf, cinnabar pigment
and a pure kaolinite gesso. This use of high quality raw
materials matches the relative scarcity of the wreaths among the
overall number of tombs excavated: only about one percent yielded
remains of these ornamental items. However, despite their relative
scarcity, they appear to have been made on a regular scale,
using standardised methods and primary raw materials rather
than merely recycling circulating metal and working on a semiskilled
ad-hoc level of craftsmanshi
The sanctuary of Hercules in Sesklo Region, Volos, Greece: an archaeometric approach of the archaic bronze objects
The study of the bronze offerings obtained from the Sanctuary of Hercules in the area of Sesklo, Municipality of Volos, Thessaly, Greece is presented in this paper. The objects were examined initially with non-destructive followed with invasive methods in order to better understand their manufacture technology. The provenance of copper is also briefly discussed