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Pastimes : Archaeology -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Carolyn who wrote (3401)	11/10/2014 2:25:33 PM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7928

Cute little winged Angels? Heres some , Hellenistic Gold & Amethyst Erotes Earrings, 3rd Century BC ......(be right at home in Brussels 1900yrs later peeing from a fountain ;0) ) These two gems, which are nearly identical but symmetric, were certainly a pair. They were each made of three elements. The first is a long, gold wire, bent into a hook shape for insertion into the earlobe. Soldered to this hook is a disk that is fashioned into a seven-petal rosette with a central sphere and edges in twisted gold wire. The second part is an amethyst bead suspended from the disk by a ring made of ...gold wire. The third element is a figurine of a standing Eros, draped only in a chlamys (cloak) fastened by a belt worn across the shoulder. Above his head, the boy holds a seemingly smooth sphere, perhaps a ball; his other hand is open, as if he is preparing to receive something. The figure’s pose is slightly enigmatic: perhaps he is in the middle of juggling his ball, tossing it from one hand to another. His legs are crossed, as if he is lightly tracing a dance step. As is often the case in Greek art, these winged Erotes are represented as children with soft bodies and open, smiling expressions; their hair, descending just to the nape of the neck, covers the top of the head like a cap. This type of jewel, with a rosette and/or a stone sandwiched between the hook and pendant, enjoyed remarkable success throughout the Greek world, especially during the early stages of the Hellenistic period. The two most popular pendant subjects for the female consumers who would have worn these earrings were undeniably figurines of Eros or Nike. While Eros’s ancient iconography is extremely rich and varied, this representation is nevertheless very interesting, because a representation of juggling or ball playing has never before been attested to among all the numerous figures of the young god used as earring pendants. Often, Eros is portrayed with a bow, a lyre, vessels, a theater mask, or bunches of grapes. On the other hand, images of Eros entertaining himself with a ball appear on many Greek red figure vases from the end of the fifth century BC.

To: Carolyn who wrote (3401)	11/10/2014 2:32:12 PM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7928

And compare the Greek with 1900yrs later in Brussels , without the wings ....sans seriousness of demons & devils and all that joyous stuff. C'mon human race, living proof here you can lighten up & enjoy naked little angels peeing in the fountain without all the heavy theology, everyone's got to pee.... ;0) Its not sinful!

To: Carolyn who wrote (3401)	11/10/2014 11:05:12 PM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7928

Hammering out the discs into the saucers would take a few hours ea maybe these guys were fast & skillful ... see the repousse that creates the standout relief on the outer cup shell, now thats a great skill used down the ages, some beauty examples here fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net Then you have the lost wax castings which are neat, ingenuous technique because you can keep making more molds from your original, so the better the wax carver/sculptor, the better the piece. Those little angels are an example and all you do then is solder them on. The cup might take 3-7days in a good shop with the finishing & repousee taking the most amount of time, they would have discs & castings done & pre-cut, lots of hammering (& always keeping the fires stoked, for annealing when the metal gets too hard/brittle from hammering)