J. R. Clarke and N. K. Muntasser (eds.) Oplontis: Villa A ("of Poppaea") At Torre Annunziata, Italy. Volume 2. The Decorations: Painting, Stucco, Pavements, Sculptures, 2019
Simon Barker and J. Clayton Fant build their report on the provenance of black and white marbles ... more Simon Barker and J. Clayton Fant build their report on the provenance of black and white marbles from Villa A on archaeometric analysis of samples collected in 2010. Their work in this and the following chapter builds upon the petrographic, spectroscopic (EPR), and isotopic analysis carried out by Donato Attanasio in order to determine the quarry identification of many of the white marbles used in Villa A. In contrast to the many iconographical studies of sculpture collections in Campania and at Rome, provenance analyses are few. Fant and Barker address questions of workmanship, place of execution, and trade, focusing their investigations on the precise data collected from Villa A. They find that the variety of marbles fit within the parameters of the region, with Luna marble from Carrara being the mainstay for architecture. For sculpture, because of the smaller volumes needed, sculptors were able to work with a wide variety of marbles from the eastern Mediterranean. The mix of white marbles used in the sculptures of Villa A is largely the same as at Rome, Puteoli, Cosa, and Rusellae. Like Moormann, Fant and Barker note that the sculptural taste of the owner was eclectic and that a significant portion of the production was local.
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Nell’estate 2013 il dott. Paolo Gardelli della Fondazione RAS, il dott. Simon Barker, University of London, e il dott. Clayton Fant, University of Akron – questi ultimi due responsabili del progetto denominato “Marmo al Mare” – hanno dato vita ad un progetto di analisi e studio della decorazione marmorea dell’intero quartiere termale. Con il presente contributo si intende pertanto esporre i risultati raggiunti dal recente lavoro di studio dei motivi decorativi e di analisi dei frammenti marmorei supersiti ancora presenti nei due ambienti.
Sia il tepidarium sia il caldarium si caratterizzano per una pianta rettangolare dotata di una grande abside a sud-ovest. L’ambiente centrale delle due stanze presenta una decorazione costituita da formelle rettangolari bordate da sottili listelli, mentre lastre a esagoni e a losanghe costituiscono il motivo delle due absidi. Tracce di rivestimento marmoreo sono state documentate anche nel registro inferiore delle pareti di entrambe le stanze. Il poster e il relativo contributo scritto approfondiranno tre aspetti: (1) le ultime indagini 2010/2013 e la storia degli scavi passati, (2) la decorazione in opus sectile e (3) i resti marmorei.
This paper presents the initial results of two seasons of survey work at the Villa Arianna and Villa San Marco at Ancient Stabiae (modern Castellammare di Stabia). The paper discusses several results of this project: first, a survey of the overall marble-use at the Villa Arianna (and the so-called Secondo Complesso) and the Villa San Marco, including but not limited to marble thresholds, pavements and wall revetment. Our study of San Marco confirms that the marble pavement in Room 10 employed rare Egyptian granites, including Granito della Colonna (Wadi Umm Shegilat) and Sedia di S Lorenzo (Wadi Semna) and that Room 16 had the largest marble floor of any residence in the Vesuvian area with a wall-to-wall opus sectile pavement of over 200 m2. Secondly, this paper discusses the level of marble décor at both villas, the range of stones represented at each site, their qualities and quantities, and how the villas compare to other houses within the wider Vesuvian area in the use of marble in domestic décor. Finally, our approach to the quantification of marble varieties and prestige levels is discussed, including new methods of recording and analysing mosaic pavements with marble inserts. In total three such pavement are known at the Villa Arianna in Rooms 3, 31-35-41 and M (no such pavements are attested at San Marco). The pavements in Rooms 3 and M were examined in detail as a test case for our methodology and its scope for examining similar pavements at Pompeii and Herculaneum are also discussed.