Amazon of Sciarra, Lansdowne, and Berlin type
- Title:
- Amazon of Sciarra, Lansdowne, and Berlin type
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown (Roman copy)
possibly Kresilas or Polykleitos (Greek original)
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
1st or 2nd c. CE (Roman copy)
ca. 440-430 BCE (Greek original)
2009 (image)
- Site:
- Rome, Italy (discovery site, 1868) (original)
- Location:
- 726 University Avenue, Cornell University
Rome, Italy (discovery site, 1868) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0604
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 110
250 - File Name:
- CCC_0604.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 202 (H) cm (complete statue)
- Culture:
- Roman, after Greek
- Style/Period:
- Roman Imperial, after Greek Classical
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (Roman copy)
bronze (Greek original) (original) - Subject:
- Amazons
Temple of Artemis (Ephesus) - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 25 x 23 x 26 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a fragmentary cast of the famous statue of a wounded Amazon in Berlin from the type known interchangeably as Sciarra, Lansdowne, and/or Berlin. Preserved here is the head of the statue, broken away at the top of the neck. The Amazon's apparently weary face is long and she looks ahead with large, thick-lidded, almond-shaped eyes. Her nose is long with a squared bridge. The nose of the original is restored
this cast was produced with that restoration. Her full lips are parted. In the complete statue, the figure tilts her head to her right as she rests from the battle in which she has been wounded. Her wavy hair is parted in the middle and swept to the back where it is rolled into a loose bun. Pliny (NH 34.53) describes a competition between five famous sculptors of the fifth century to produce bronze representations of wounded amazons for dedication at the sanctuary of Artemis at Ephesos. The Berlin/Sciarra/Lansdowne type is one of three Amazon types associated with the competition that have been identified through copies. The type has been conjecturally attributed to both Kresilas and Polykleitos, but it is far from certain which of the known statue types derives from which sculptor. Several copies of this Amazon type or fragments thereof exist, among them are the well-preserved New York Metropolitan no 32.11.4 (the Lansdowne copy) and Copenhagen Glypototek no. 1658 (the Sciarra copy). Ridgway posited a Hellenistic or Augustan date for the original of the Lansdowne Amazon type but based her arguments largely on particularities that might derive from Roman copyists. A mid-fifth century date for the original remains far more plausible (see Stewart). - Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. SK 7 - Bibliography:
- Brunilde S. Ridgway, "A Story of Five Amazons," AJA 78 (1974), 1-17
Andrew Stewart, Greek Sculpture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 262-263, figs. 388-396 - Related Work:
- Belongs with ID nos. 250, 525.
- Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Berlin, Antikensammlung (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.