medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Genevra Kornbluth <[log in to unmask]>
> On 12/7/2010 2:25 PM, Christopher Crockett wrote:
>> <description of engraving technique>
what a curious method of work --one wonders why he would work *each side* in
progressive stages, rather than finish one side, then go on to the next,
finish that, then go on...
> Actually, on a gem this is quite logical. Different tools are often used for
the different stages of production.
this occurred to me, immediately after i hit the Send button.
>The artist might well sketch everything out first with the diamond point (a
chip of stone set into a metal rod), then use a large drill to rough out all
of the large masses,
and after that use smaller drills to add the details on each figure (here, on
each side). Since changing drills was probably less easy than it is now, it
would have been reasonable to finish with each tool before moving on to the
next. If that was the case here, then the work stopped
just after the third side had the large masses cut, and before the fourth side
was engraved or detail was added to any.
all of that seems quite reasonable, and i can imagine that using a bow drill
to do such close work would have been difficult enough, without the bother of
having to change drill shafts (with different bits) in one's drill.
otOh, this would not have been much of a consideration for a sculptor working
in stone --mostly just a matter of picking up another chisel from the nearby
bench rack.
the sculptor of the unfinished Fleury lintel seems to have used a drill, but i
can only see remaining evidence of it in the eyes
http://www.art-roman.net/stbenoit/stbenoit61x.jpg
which seem to have been treated rather late in the process, not being visible
on the V&C
http://www.art-roman.net/stbenoit/stbenoit60x.jpg
>> this one's a Hoot:
>> http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/images/Gudea2.jpg
> Now you know the secret of my photographic choices-- anything that strikes
me as fun or interesting gets shot.
i wish i had told you about the twisted cloister columns (with figures
climbing up them and historiated capitals) from the abbey of Coulombs, now in
the Louvre.
which don't seem to be available anywhere on the web.
>I thought that the Gudea would help demonstrate to students just how valuable
hard stone was in the Ancient Near East, but the old hippie in me also likes
the idea of
the common folk grinding away the ruler over time.
a quite wonderful thought, but i don't quite understand how this object was
used.
c
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