Relief with Amazonomachy

Summary

This fragment of a relief is made of white marble. Only the lower, right part of the wide frame around the picture has been preserved. The use of the pigment Egyptian Blue was documented using Visible Induced Luminescence.

Description of object

Only the lower, right part of the wide frame around the picture has been preserved. The left-hand figure’s right leg below the knee and part of the rock on which she stands, as well as the right, and most of the left hands are missing. The face is partially destroyed. Likewise the whole upper torso of the right-hand figure is missing.

Two embattled figures move toward each other, each from their own lower corner of the relief over the rock which rises up between them. The figure on the left is a woman dressed in a short chiton, with a short, sturdy, long-sleeved garment held together with a belt around the waist. On her head she wears an Attic helmet. Her bent left leg is positioned on the central rock formation, the right is stretched out behind her. The right arm points back while the left holds out a large, round shield. The legs, the arms and the head are seen in profile while the body is seen frontally. The figure on the right is a naked man with the remains of a cloak hanging down his left hip and thigh. His bent right leg, which has a foothold on the rock between the figures, is seen in profile, while the rest of the body and the left leg, stretched out behind him, are seen frontally.

Choice of methods

Visual examination

• Macroscopic

Technical imaging

• VIL

Technical imaging

VIL: Documented the use of Egyptian Blue on the shield of the Amazon.

Bibliography

F. Poulsen (1951), Catalogue of Ancient Sculpture in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, cat. no. 57a.

M. Moltesen (2001), Catalogue. Imperial Rome II. Statues. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, cat. no. 63.