Material and Intellectual Consequences of Esteem for Cycladic Figures

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4534623
AutoresDavid W J Gill (0000-0002-6970-3236), Christopher Chippindale
Ano1993
Volume97
Fascículo4
Páginas601-659
Data de publicação1993-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X
EditoraUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/506716
OpenAlexW2315783612
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas87
Referências citadas1

The purpose of this paper is to document the consequences, material and intellectual, of a recent rising regard for Cycladic figures as objects of the connoisseur's zeal. It explores the nature of the known corpus, which is composed of figures that have either come to light through archaeological excavation or by "surfacing" on the art market. The growing esteem for Cycladic figures has had certain material consequences for their study: archaeological contexts have been destroyed, the means of developing a reliable chronological sequence have been lost, regional variations in figure types have become blurred, and finally, the opportunity to understand the function of the figures has been missed. The intellectual consequences of the loss of archaeological information lead to a distortion in the perceptions of Cycladic prehistory and society. Attempts to identify the hands of "masters" of sculptures appear to be misplaced: the underlying "canon" of Cycladic sculpture can be shown to be little more than a creation of chance. For the connoisseur, the value of a Cycladic figure largely resides in the object itself. For the archaeologist, the information immanent in the object provides elements of a larger story, the rest of which resides in a knowledge of context. The material consequences of the connoisseur's esteem, as we have been able to document them, are calamitous to the archaeological interest. The previously fruitful three-way marriage of connoisseur, market-maker, and scholar is now coming under strain as the interests and motives of the three partners have become distinct

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology) · Function (biology) · Linguistics · Object (grammar) · Prehistory · Sculpture · Value (mathematics) · 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage · Archaeological Research and Protection · Computer Science · History · Image Processing and 3D Reconstruction · Philosophy