An interesting article today on Discovery News (image taken from the article, too) about a collection of theatre masks found in 1749 and forgotten about in the royal storerooms. The masks are currently on display at the Naples Museum as part of Il Teatro Antico e le Maschere exhibition (see Sarah's earlier post). Apparently they were all found in the same location, leading to the suggestion that this may have been a workshop making masks for actors.
A blog for all those who work on Pompeii and the other archaeological sites of the Bay of Naples.
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Ancient Theater Masks Rediscovered in Pompeii
An interesting article today on Discovery News (image taken from the article, too) about a collection of theatre masks found in 1749 and forgotten about in the royal storerooms. The masks are currently on display at the Naples Museum as part of Il Teatro Antico e le Maschere exhibition (see Sarah's earlier post). Apparently they were all found in the same location, leading to the suggestion that this may have been a workshop making masks for actors.
On our web site at http://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/RV/Villa%20Cicero%20p2.htm
ReplyDeletewe have two pictures of 15 masks and one of the descriptive museum card which we took in May 2006. Our best shot in 2006 was to put them in to the Villa di Cicerone based on the card in the museum.
Recently we have obtained a copy of Raffaele Prisciandaro and Mario Pagano's book published in 2006:- Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli: Una lettura integrata, coordinata e commentata della documentazione Volume 1. Naples : Nicola Longobardi. This is an excellent resource for cross referencing and identifying inventory numbers, dates of excavations and the notes from the Giornali, including references to Helbig, Ruesch etc.
On page 13 they quote on 4 gen 1749 PAH I,1,7. XX ERO, 6 - Villa di Cicerone.
"....... sono trovate quindici maschere di gesso......".
We recently added a citation for the book on the web site page whilst adding more fresco pictures to the Villa di Cicerone.
Does anyone know if these are the same masks as those in the exhibition or are there two sets?
Can anyone help please?
Jackie and Bob at pompeiiinpictures