Marble and Bronze Sculpture

Introduction by J.R. Green

In a teaching collection formed in relatively recent years one does not expect to find full-scale marble or bronze statuary. On the other hand the ANU collection contains a good range of examples of the kind of work that reflects the preoccupations of everyday life. Four items commemorate family bereavement, one from late-fifth century BC Athens or Attica with its conventional depiction of the key figures (1978.01), a fourth-century BC marble hero relief also from the Greek world (2013.03), and two contrasting pieces from the second century AD, the one a Roman cinerary urn for a young child, touching in its detailed record (1979.03), and the other a fascinating statement recording a woman named Maxima that was most probably set up in Phrygia in Asia Minor that is anything but classical in its approach.

A trend typical of the first and more particularly second century AD is seen in the statuette of a philosopher (1969.05) that recalls an original of the late fourth century BC. So too does the fine bronze figurine of Aphrodite (2005.02) as she sexily displays her body as she merges from the sea at the time of her birth at the shore of Cyprus. As a type it was hugely popular all over the Roman Empire both in recalling the classical past as well as on her own account. The little head of Serapis also draws on past tradition while for us serving as evidence for the spread of aspects of Egyptian religion.

The portraits (1967.02, 1968.22, 1972.06, 1974.04, and 1987.05) for many of us typify the Roman world, and it is worth thinking not only of their various styles but also of their function for the people who had them made, who found the presence of those represented, live or dead, important in their own daily lives. From our perspective we may also read the portrait of Licinius (1987.05), re-cut on an earlier effigy, as a sign of changing times.