Dal Tempio del Portonaccio di Veio. Terracotta del VI sec. a.C.
Info: www.museoetru.it/
LA MEDUSA DI VEIO - MUSEO NAZIONALE ETRUSCO DI VILLA GIULIA 844 by opaxir
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Dal Tempio del Portonaccio di Veio. Terracotta del VI sec. a.C.
Info: www.museoetru.it/
Michael Svetbird : FEMALE FIGURE | ARTEMIS. Villa Giulia, Rome, ETRU ©MSP. • Part of the "Small-format Sculpture & Miniature Artefacts" MSP Online Photo-gallery : www.deviantart.com/svetbird1234/gallery/69450077/small-fo...
Info: www.museoetru.it/
Info: www.museoetru.it/
Info: www.museoetru.it/
Info: www.museoetru.it/
Info: www.museoetru.it/
This antefix was recovered in 1921 by Goffredo Bendinelli in Vulci, in an unspecified location between the city and the Badia bridge. The archaeologist found no connections with the building of origin and considered it an isolated find but "particularly interesting and worthy of being included, as it is today, among the clay decorations of Etruscan buildings at the Musco di Villa Giulia".
Many years later, four fragments of identical specimens were found in the deposits or recovered in various places, but this is the only intact one and remains a very precious testimony.
At the center of the antefix there is the head of a Maenad, a figure closely linked to the god Dionysus and widely used in the decoration of architectural elements in Etruria and in the Greek and Roman world.
In this case, it is a type that has no comparisons outside the city of Vulci and that was developed around 300 BCE, therefore shortly before the Roman conquest of 280 BCE.
The antefix was intended for the roof of a temple whose position and importance are still unknown: the small size (the diameter does not exceed 25 centimeters) does not exclude that it may have been a monumental building.
The clients commissioned an artist who developed the prototype and a matrix, necessary for the production of all the pieces needed to complete the decoration of the ends of the roof. The Maenads must have been associated with antefixes with a Satyr's head - of which only one fragment survives - surrounded by an identical nimbus (the area that encloses the head), circular and bordered by large leaves.
At the time of the discovery, the state of conservation of the colors caused great amazement, which are still clearly visible today and partly still covered by encrustations. Tones of red, yellow and light blue alternate on the halo, while the face shows a pale complexion, red lips, brown hair and dark pupils.
The tones of the decoration match well with the delicate face of the Maenad, who does not appear agitated and in the grip of Dionysian ecstasy but as an elegant and thoughtful girl. She wears an elaborate hairstyle held back by a bandage or a headdress, a red dress of which only the neckline can be seen, a simple necklace and gold earrings with pendants.
300 BC Vulci, between the city area and the Ponte della Badia, excavations Bendinelli 1921.
-- Vittoria Lecce, ETRU website
inv. 42177
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