The Hermitage guide

The Greek bronzes of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. are also few in number. They include a stand from a burial at Nymphaeum, which is decorated with a superbly executed figure of a naked athlete and may have served some utilitarian purpose. Close study of the stylistic features of the figure has led Soviet scholars to identify it as South Italic, probably Locrian, rather than Attic as was hitherto believed. This conclusion points to the necessity of further research into the links which existed between the Bosporan Kingdom and Magna Graecia. There is an interesting group of bronze mirrors; the stand of one of them is shaped as the figure of Aphrodite; its static pose and austere appearance recalls the monumental sculptures of the Archaic period.

The Etruscan collection of bronzes boasts some superb examples. The cinerary urn in the form of a reclining youth (early fourth century B.C.) illustrates a type of funerary sculpture widespread in Etruria. The proportions of the body are characteristic of Etruscan art, but in the treatment of the face, hair, and dress we feel a Greek influence.

The collection of Italic and Roman bronzes, apart from the afore-mentioned Portrait of a Man, dishes and household utensils, also includes statuettes of characters from mythology, gods, lares, etc. A particularly interesting feature of the collection is a rich group of ornaments from Thracian chariots, providing yet another example of the complex mutual influences in the art of the Roman provinces.

The collection of jewellery, mainly originating from the excavations in the south of Russia, has long since become world famous. What makes the collection so priceless is the wide range of types and the variety of subjects and techniques (the skilful use of enamels, and later of precious stones).

The earrings from Theodosia and Kul-Oba, remarkable for their superb technique and the harmony of all their elements, were without doubt produced in Attica. The famous Kul-Oba temple pendants would also appear to be of Attic provenance. They bear reliefs that are supposed to be an accurate likeness of the head of the chryselephantine statue of Athena created by Phidias for the Parthenon.

The reliefs decorating the Kul-Oba electrum vessel reproduce the appearance of Scythian warriors, their dress and occupations with extraordinary skill and realism. The same capacity for observation and the same degree of technical mastery are displayed by the artist who produced the pectoral with a representation of a grazing herd, found in the Bolshaya Bliznitsa Barrow. The collection of gold wreaths, necklaces and costume plaques found in the burials is particularly extensive.

In one of the richest burials, the Artiukhovsky Barrow, Hellenistic jewellery embellished with semiprecious stones was brought to light. Maria Maximova, one of the leading authorities on Bosporan jewellery, studied a diadem from this burial, and demonstrated the high value given to jewellery at the time: the diadem was proved to have been repaired using details from other pieces, probably outdated, or damaged beyond repair. Objects of jewellery are studied in the context of the accompanying finds. The Hermitage collections help scholars, both in the Soviet Union and abroad, to categorize pieces in their correct place, both stylistically and chronologically, in the history of ancient jewellery. Valuable information has been obtained recently thanks to new finds in the Ukraine.

The pair bracelets from the burial of the Bosporan king Rhescuporis (third century A.D.) may serve as another outstanding example of the jeweller’s art of the Roman period.

Equally interesting is the collection of silverware, consisting of numerous early vessels (from the Semibratny Barrows and Kul-Oba) and Hellenistic kylikes depicting Helios riding in a chariot. Late Hellenistic artefacts include a part of a harness found in the Akhtanizovsky Barrow. They all point to the high level achieved by the art of toreutics in ancient times.

The Hermitage collection of carved gems is rightly considered one of the finest in the world. There are only a few examples of Aegean glyptics of the Homeric and Archaic periods. The period when engraving reached its height (fifth and fourth centuries B.C.) is far better represented. Individual miniature figures and groups are carved with great precision on large translucent sapphirine chalcedony, cornelian and opaque jasper. Graphic skill is here combined with a great plastic sense; the oval figure compositions are extremely varied. The intaglios by Dexamenos are of outstanding artistic merit, especially his Flying Heron.