Aprile 2005

Maria Teresa D'Alessio: Editoriale
  
Olof Brandt:
The AIAC web site

ISTITUTI

Massimiliano Ghilardi:
Per gli 80 anni di vita dell'Istituto Nazionale di Studi Romani

Allan Klynne:
The Swedish Institute in Rome; L'Istituto Svedese di Studi Classici a Roma

CONVEGNI

Federica Chiesa:
"Offerte dal regno vegetale e dal regno animale nella dimensione del sacro"

INCONTRI  AIAC

Eleonora Fossile:
La topografia di Aricia, Lanuvium e del Nemus Dianae tra antichità e medioevo

Sabrina Cimini:
La Valle del Sangro tra tardo-antico ed alto medioevo: note di topografia

Isabel Sànchez Ramos:
La cristianizzazione della topografia cimiteriale a Cordoba nella tarda antichità

Kristian Göransson:
The transport amphorae from Euesperides (Benghazi) Libya. Patterns of trade 400-250 BC

Tehmina Bhote:
Where did they come from? The medieval 'southern Italien' collections of the British Museum

Tehmina Bhote

Where did they come from?The medieval ‘southern Italian’ collections of the British Museum

   Early museum objects are often neglected by historians and archaeologists because information about their origins – their provenance – is often lost.  However, by re-establishing these objects in their historical contexts they can become more than just objets d’art and become valuable sources about past societies.

   Most of the medieval ‘southern Italian’ objects at the British Museum entered their collections during the 19^th century.  One of the most interesting pieces is the Castellani brooch (pictured).  It was bought by the museum in 1865 from the Castellani jeweller family from Rome (British Museum 1866: 4, Moretti Sgubini 2000: 11).  The Castellani family collected ancient objects from archaeological excavations to study them and try and emulate their styles in their own jewellery. The museum’s accession register states that the brooch was originally found at Canosa di Puglia (British Museum 1866: 4). 

    This gold and cloisonné enamel disc brooch has a stylised portrait of a female head and is said to be similar in form to imperial Byzantine brooches (Lipinsky 1973: 1398).  Three other objects, all in different museum collections, share the Castellani brooch’s distinctive enamelled depiction of the female head.  These are a pair of earrings found at Senise (Potenza), and another disc brooch believed to be found at Comacchio, (north of Ravenna).  The Senise earrings, now in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, were found with other gold and enamel objects in a Lombard grave in 1916 (De Rinaldis 1916: 329-32).  The reverse sides of the earrings have impressions of solidi from the reign of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IV (668-685 AD).  The Comacchio brooch was acquired by the American collector Henry Walters, possibly in the late 1890s, and is now in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, USA. 

     Although the similarity in their workmanship has been noted by art historians in the past (Hackenbroch 1938: 11-14, Lipinsky 1973: 1396-98, Haseloff 1990: 20-21), the significance of the female head remains to be interpreted.  It is hoped that further study of early medieval southern Italian material culture will help provide more clues about the meaning of the icon.  Based on style, these objects have been interpreted as productions of both ‘Lombard’ and ‘Byzantine’ artistic traditions.  The result is that the objects are perceived from the point of view of the dominant cultures in southern Italy rather than from the point of view of the southern Italians who made and used them. 

Fig. 1. The Castellani brooch, found at Canosa di Puglia

   Viewing the Castellani brooch and its related pieces in their historical context, it is possible to draw some conclusions about their significance.  Based on the dating evidence provided by the earrings, all the objects were probably made approximately in the late 7^th to early 8^th century.  They are all high status objects and would have required a very wealthy patron.  In this period Naples, ruled by Byzantine dukes, would have been the most likely centre for gold production in southern Italy (Arthur 2002: 119).  However, it has also been argued that Lombard Benevento could have been the origin for such objects (Galasso 1991: 39).

    The earrings and other grave-goods found at Senise may have been a political gift from the Byzantine Duchy of Naples to the Lombard Principality of Benevento (Arthur 2002: 141).  In the late 7^th century, Canosa di Puglia was a disputed city between the Lombards and Byzantines as it lay close to the borders of both territories.  Perhaps the Castellani brooch was also a political gift?  Comacchio at this time was part of the Byzantine Exarchate centred at Ravenna.  What would the significance of a (possibly) Neapolitan brooch at Comacchio be?  These, and other questions, remain to be answered.  Further comparative research on these objects should help reveal their relationships with their historical contexts.