In a New Light. Cypriot Bronzes in the Collection of Classical Antiquities, Berlin

Abstract

Over the past six years, the author has re-catalogued more than 8,200 of a total of approximately 10,000 bronze, lead and iron objects belonging the Collection of Classical Antiquities (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin), including items now lost, for presentation in the form of an image database. In the process it was possible, in at least 250 cases, to add previously unknown information concerning previous ownership (fig. 1) and find spots (fig. 2) as well as numerous observations on former function. Furthermore recent research has generated a wealth of new data. For instance, many objects now missing, damaged or destroyed are available as images again for the first time in many years, thanks to drawings (fig. 3) or photos (fig. 4) that previously could not be assigned. In some cases, formerly unidentified fragments were found to belong to bronzes believed to be lost (fig. 5). Among the items catalogued by the author, continuing the efforts of his predecessors, are several hundred objects which had got dispersed amid the upheavals following the Second World War and were reunited only in 1995 in the Altes Museum; by comparing them closely with the inventories he was able to assign them their original inventory numbers once again (figs. 6. 7. 10. 11 a. b). Thanks to the obligingness displayed by Russian counterparts, two visits to a special depot of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow proved to be exceptionally fruitful, finally clarifying the whereabouts of more than 700 Berlin bronze and iron objects (figs. 8. 9) and fragments belonging to them. Beyond this, some missing bronzes turned up in the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (figs. 10. 12 a–d). The author here illustrates the results of his work with selected bronzes from Cypriot sites or from conjectured Cypriot workshops.