This book is divided into four parts: early Italy and the "Royal Age", the Republic of China, the early empire and the late empire. The exhibits are developed from the aspects of society and family, art and personal decoration, politics and struggle, funeral customs and ceremonies.
Here, we learn about the exquisite craftsmanship of ancient Rome from several special exhibits:
Name of Exhibit: Lepidium latifolia
Use of exhibits: cosmetic containers
Age of exhibits: about 630 BC to 580 BC.
Exhibit material: shells
Shells and shell patterns were very common at that time. She is the goddess Aphrodite in Greek mythology, because she is a goddess symbolizing love and beauty. The top of this exhibit is a human head, while the interior is decorated with the Sphinx, lotus ornaments and triangular patterns, which may be a woman's grave.
Compared with China culture, shell decoration first appeared in Qin and Han Dynasties, especially in Sui and Tang Dynasties. The unearthed location of shell boxes in tombs and the relics of * * * indicate that they are precious in the Tang Dynasty, mainly used to hold cosmetics, especially in female tombs. This is the same as in ancient Rome.
Whether in China or ancient Rome, natural shells or silver-shell boxes have not only the use value, but also the artistic functions of viewing and playing with their smooth and beautiful shapes.
Exhibit Name: lycurgus Wine Glass
Use of exhibits: containers
Age of exhibits: about 630 BC to 580 BC.
Exhibit materials: glass and silver.
This wine glass also comes from Greek mythology, which depicts the scene that King Vegas was defeated by Dionysus.
The uniqueness of this exhibit is that it is one of the most well-preserved and beautifully decorated wine glasses in ancient Rome, and it is also the only one made of two-color glass.
According to the technology at that time, it was really difficult to make a color-changing glass. This kind of glass can change color according to the change of light, or it can appear in two colors.
When light illuminates the cup from the front, it is green, and when light illuminates the cup from the back, it is red. This technology has also become a problem that glass manufacturers cannot solve now. In ancient Rome, how did people make this kind of cup without using laser cutting technology?
The manufacturing industry in ancient Rome developed rapidly from BC 1 century, and the manufacturing technology was constantly improved, making it more and more extensive, and even began to gild and paint on glass. With the improvement of technology, a large number of glass products have appeared, but gold-plated glass still has high research value.
Exhibit Name: Augusta Laurikka Silver Plate
Use of exhibits: containers
Age of exhibits: mid-4th century AD
Exhibit material: silver
The biggest feature of ancient Roman silverware is the silver shell technology. They can make extremely thin silver products. The earliest silverware in ancient Rome was tableware, including silver bowls, plates, pots, cups, knives and forks. The second largest silverware is all kinds of jewelry, such as silver earrings, silver rings and silver pins.
These silver tableware and jewelry are not naked, but decorated with patterns. These patterns are not animals, but "the world of people", including Dionysus's carnival, the birth of beautiful gods, famous philosophers and kings at that time, and general female heads. Even silver used as coins has portraits of people.
For example, this Augusta Laurikka silver plate unearthed 270 pieces of silverware of the same type, including silver plates, spoons, coins and other items, depicting Odysseus finding Achilles dressed in women's clothes to avoid war. Some of the silverware was a gift from Constantine the Great to commemorate his ruling empire.
The ancient Roman silverware has a strong classical carving style, and their silverware production technology is mainly embossed decoration, mainly hammered on thin silver plates. From the second century to the third century, this practice gradually entered the late Roman style, which means the process of changing from a naturalistic description to a new decorative expression.
Exhibit Name: Headdress
Use of exhibits: decoration
Age of exhibits: 650 BC
Exhibit material: gold
Name of Exhibit: Etruscan Disc Earrings
Use of exhibits: decoration
Exhibit date: late 6th century BC
Exhibit material: gold
Ancient Rome usually refers to the civilization that rose in the middle of the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the 9th century. Roman art mostly inherited from Greece and Etta Rasquin. The Romans worshipped Greek art, so they quoted a lot of Greek art forms, thus lacking originality.
As can be seen from the above two ornaments, both earrings and headdresses are exquisite, beautiful and generous. Disc earrings are an excellent example of Etruscan jewelry processing with metal. Six roses surround a central disk, and the outer edge of each earring is decorated with the heads of six people, while the heads of people are decorated with gold relief.
This headdress is one of the oldest discoveries in the ancient tomb. It was made about 100 years earlier than other objects found in the tombs of the same period. There is a semicircular opening at the top of the headdress, which can just be fixed on a person's ear.
Name of Exhibit: Gold Clip Glass
Use of exhibits: murals
Age of exhibits: 350 AD
Exhibit materials: glass and gold foil
Ancient Roman paintings were mainly mosaics and murals, which were generally used to record specific historical events and decorate public places and houses. There are four styles of Roman murals: masonry structure, architectural structure and decoration. Compound.
"Glass inlaid with gold" is a technique for making mosaics. This exhibition depicts Christ. This mosaic is glittering and has a bright and shining visual effect, that is, the technology of "golden glass clip" is adopted. In the process of making, a small piece of gold inlaid glass is used, so it presents a special visual effect.
The technology of "glass with gold" was popular in the 3rd-4th century. It mainly decorated the tombs in the catacombs of ancient Rome by fusing gold foil between two pieces of glass. In fact, art and religion were established in early Christianity.
The American poet edgar allan poe once wrote a widely circulated poem: "Glory belongs to Greece, and greatness belongs to Rome."
More than 2000 years ago, the ancient Romans established this great empire at the western end of Eurasia. Its greatness lies not only in its powerful force, but also in the splendid civilization created by the ancient Romans in its own century, which still deserves our admiration and admiration.