Module 4 - Small Scale

Small-Scale Everyday Objects

The focus of Module 4 is on objects from everyday life in antiquity. The fact that scholars, philologists, and artists intensively studied specifically such objects is evidenced, for instance, by the Museo Cartaceo of Cassiano dal Pozzo (see volumes A.3.1-2 and A.5 of the Catalogue raisonnée) – its importance for understanding the early modern period prior to Winckelmann can hardly be overestimated (DaCosta Kaufmann 1995; Herklotz 1999). At the same time, extensive collections by Pietro Santi Bartoli, Antonio Francesco Gori, Gaetano Piccini, and others have thus far not been published. An examination of these groups of objects also resulted in two of the most important printed books on lamps, mirrors, jewellery, furniture applications, and other objects, which were then also intensively received in Montfaucon’s work: Lorenz Beger’s Thesaurus Brandenburgicus and Michel-Ange de la Chausse’s Museum Romanum, which exists in several editions and languages, are presented in their entirety from a critical perspective at the end of the module.


Select Sources

Michel-Ange de la Chausse, Romanum Museum sive Thesaurus Eruditae Antiquitatis, in quo gemmae, idola, insignia sacerdotia, instrumenta sacrificijs, inservantia, lucernae, vasa, bullae, armillae, fibulae, claves, annulli, tesserae, styli, strigiles, gutti, phialae lacryamatoriae, vota, signa militaria, marmora etc., (first edition 1690), Rome 1707

Lorenz Beger, Thesaurus Brandenburgicus Selectus, Berlin 1696–1701, vol. 3

Bernard de Montfaucon, L‘antiquité expliquée et representée en figures, vols. 5,1 and 5,2 and supplement vol. 5

Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, 1. Collectanea monumentorum antiquorum Arelatae, Massiliae, Forojulii, Arausii, Ravennae et Mutinae repertorum. — 2. Discorso di medaglie antiche, con sua tavola nel fine, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Ms. lat. 6012

Anton Francesco Gori, Florence, Biblioteca Marucelliana, Ms. A 65, Ms. A 267