Purple for the δῆμος: Art and Luxury in Greek Coroplastic Polychromy of the 4th–3rd century B.C.

Adriana Rizzo; Marco Leona; Josefina Pérez-Arantegui; Nobuko Shibayama; Violaine Jeammet; Federica Pozzi; Yannick Vandenberghe; Maria Perla Colombini; Brigitte Bourgeois; Ilaria Degano; Giovanni Verri; Federico Carò; Elena Basso

doi:10.34780/m1czf303

Purple for the δῆμος: Art and Luxury in Greek Coroplastic Polychromy of the 4th–3rd century B.C.

in: Colour & Space. Interfaces of Ancient Architecture and Sculpture.: Proceedings of the 10th International Round Table on Polychromy in Ancient Sculpture and Architecture

https://doi.org/10.34780/cxazn328

Autoría y colaboradores/as

Adriana Rizzo [Autor de capítulo] The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Marco Leona [Autor de capítulo] The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Josefina Pérez-Arantegui [Autor de capítulo] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4681-3934 Universidad de Zaragoza
Nobuko Shibayama [Autor de capítulo] The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Violaine Jeammet [Autor de capítulo] Musée du Louvre
Federica Pozzi [Autor de capítulo] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8174-2684 Centro per la Conservazione ed il Restauro dei Beni Culturali "La Venaria Reale"
Yannick Vandenberghe [Autor de capítulo] Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (C2RMF), Paris
Maria Perla Colombini [Autor de capítulo] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1666-8596 Università di Pisa
Brigitte Bourgeois [Autor de capítulo] Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (C2RMF), Paris
Ilaria Degano [Autor de capítulo] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3585-8555 Università di Pisa
Giovanni Verri [Autor de capítulo] The Art Institute of Chicago
Federico Carò [Autor de capítulo] https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2931-6685 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Elena Basso [Autor de capítulo] The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sinopsis

Over recent years, through in-depth technical and art historical studies, the predilection for vibrant colours in Greek art of the Late Classical and Early Hellenistic periods has become evident. The luxurious taste for colour and shine, which makes use of particularly precious varieties of pigments and colourants, has been the subject of several studies; examples include conichalcite and malachite for green, cinnabar and madder for red, gold for yellow, and even shellfish dye for purple. While supports such as plaster, marble, and ivory have been more intensively studied, terracotta has thus far received less attention. This contribution draws attention to polychrome coroplastic production of mainland Greece (Athens, Boeotia and Corinthia) during the 4th and 3rd cent. B.C. Purple, a coveted symbol of divine splendour, heroic value and aristocratic power, appears to be particularly emblematic of this revolution of ‹colour and shine›. Organic colourants, other than brominated compound from shellfish, appear to have been used to produce a palette of luminous, intense purple‑red and purple‑blue hues. This paper focuses on the use of purples in coroplastic production, including Athenian plastic lekythoi and Tanagra‑type statuettes, held in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, the Archaeological Museum of Thebes, and the Louvre Museum. The paper presents and discusses the results of the analytical investigations (microscopy, multi‑spectral imaging, Raman, XRD, XRF, FORS, FTIR, SEM‑EDX, HPLC‑MS and LDI‑MS), which characterized the materials used on the figurines. In particular, it explores the relationship between the recent finding of an organic purple colourant on the Parthenon sculptures and a 4th–3rd cent. B.C. trend that witnesses a ‹democratization› of the colour purple, which was found to have been used for the representation of clothing of reputedly low‑value terracotta figurines.