Category Archives: Archaeology

  • Mediterranean Stones on California Shores

    10 January, 2013

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    The Haas-Lilienthal House, 2007 Franklin Street, San Francisco, from sfheritage.org

    About two weeks ago we happened to be in San Francisco, and took a tour of the Haas-Lilienthal House, an upper-middle-class residence of the 1880s that escaped the worst ravages of the Great Earthquake and Fire of 18 April, 1906. (The fire was stopped at Van Ness Ave., just one block east.) It happens to be the only Victorian house in the city open to regular public tours.

    The tour was pleasantly led by a docent who presented the customary information about family, architectural milieu, and various details of design and decor that represented the aspirations of the occupants. (See another visitor’s illustrated account of the tour.) It was interesting, but held no real surprises.

    Until she showed us the red marble fireplace in the Second Parlor.

    Continue reading →

  • ROMARCH: Oxford Exhibition; Engraved Gems and the Classical Tradition

    5 January, 2013

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    Engraved Gems and the Classical Tradition A new exhibition in the Upper Library at Christ Church, Oxford.

    Although gems are modest in size, gem engraving was a major art in antiquity. From the Renaissance on Greek and Roman intaglios and cameos were collected, observed and copied. Scholars could learn about the appearance of gem subjects through publications, often initiated by their almost obsessive collectors, but also through the expanding production of impressions and casts of gems in a variety of materials. This exhibition will give examples of a wide range of these, from sealing wax to glass paste. It will also show a number of original gems. Books on engraved gems of the 17th to 19th centuries from the Christ Church Library are illustrated with impressions, electrotypes and casts from Oxford’s Beazley Archive, and intaglios and cameos from private collections.

    A highlight in the exhibition is a sardonyx from the collection of the Earl of Carlisle. The cameo was engraved by Alexander Cesati (1510-64), and shows Cupid taming a lion in the presence of two nymphs. Continue reading →