Studies on the Presence and Role of Göktepe Marbles in Late Antique Ideal Sculpture

The study reviews the results of marble provenance analyses performed on 87 late antique ideal sculptures found at Aphrodisias, Rome, Athens, Gaul, North Africa and other Mediterranean locations. Discussion includes 14 newly measured artefacts but also 50 sculptures already measured by us in the frame of different research projects as well as 23 literature examples in which case earlier provenance indications are reconsidered and sometimes modified using the more complete set of quarry data available to date. With the exception of Chiragan where a large-scale decoration program, most likely carried out by Aphrodisian sculptors, made use of the local St. Béat marble, other late antique ideal artefacts use almost exclusively Asiatic marbles (98%) mostly originating from the Göktepe marble quarries (61%). Typical and instructive examples of this behaviour are the statuette of ›Cristo docente‹ at Palazzo Massimo in Rome, made of a combination of marbles from Göktepe and Aphrodisias city quarries, or the statuette of Ganymede and the eagle from Carthage, in which case the few existing data make it possible to exclude the Ephesian provenance previously suggested and strongly indicate the marble’s probable origin in Göktepe. The overall provenance distribution fully confirms the opinion already expressed on art-historical grounds that late antique ideal sculptures are a relatively homogeneous group of artefacts mostly made in the workshops of Constantinople and other marble-rich microasiatic cities by Asiatic sculptors using their most prized marble varieties and following Asiatic stylistic and technical features. The common use of Aphrodisian marbles clearly identifies the origin of the leading group of sculptors. The large number of different and distant locations where ideal late antique sculptures have been found demonstrates that this statuary production, besides being used locally, gave rise to lively trade and export activities.