Abundance & The Good Life:

The Late-Antique Inheritance (cat. 1-11)

1 Octagonal Chariot Fitting with Eight Scenes Bronze inlaid with copper, silver and niello Late-Antique, second half of the 4th century AD Diameter: 6 7/8 inches (17.4 cm.)

The Object:

This heavy octagonal fitting probably served as the proper left axle cap of a richly decorated ceremonial chariot, certainly the property of an important figure from Late Antiquity. The eight sides of the fitting gleam with precious inlaid metals configuring a series of scenes: three evoking the bounty of the oceans, three animal hunts representing the abundance of the earth, and two pastoral compositions showing the simple pleasures of rustic country life in the spirit of the bucolic poetry of Virgil’s Eclogues and Georgics.

The fitting belongs to a small, important group of Late-Antique metalwork characterized by the use of multiple precious-metal inlays to create strongly coloristic tones and rich tapestry-like effects. Other examples in this technique are a plaque with hunting scenes (Louvre), a silver vessel with vinescrolls and hunting scenes (Berlin), a bronze throne back with hunting scenes and a plaque with hunting scenes (both Florence) and a plaque with Heracles slaying the Hydra (Princeton). Of these examples none is as complete or as complex as this spectacular fitting.

The Theme and Social Context:
The figure style and the iconography of this group of inlaid metal objects are related to a number of examples of contemporary silver plate decorated with incised scenes and highlighted with gilding and niello. A silver dish found near Cesena (now coll. Biblioteca Malatestiana) features a central roundel with an outdoor banquet above and a horse and groom before a building below. The tondo of the Seaside plate from Kaiseraugst (Römermuseum, Augst, Switzerland) depicts the variety of fish yielded forth to fishermen by the ocean, and on a third plate (Castle Ashby, coll. Lord Northhampton) a wealthy landowner named Sevso dines with his hunting party al fresco enjoying the simple pleasures of country life. Around the rims of all three plates are hunt and pastoral scenes like those on the sides of our chariot fitting. The copious bounty of earth and sea and the pleasurable activities of country life are the central themes of these late fourth-century objects.

Late Antiquity witnessed an unprecedented concentration of wealth in the hands of a dwindling but powerful landed nobility. When the newly-converted Constantine moved his court eastward to Constantinople in 330, he isolated the Senators of Rome and the rich landed nobility of the western provinces who had preserved, more than any other social group, the ideals and traditions of classical antiquity.

Sources of Imagery:
Much as Late-Antique manuscripts reduced monumental compositions to the limitations of a small picture space, many of the scenes on the chariot fitting also seem to have been scaled down from larger, more spacious compositions such as frescoes and mosaics. The well-preserved mosaics at Piazza Armerina, Sicily, similar to our leopard and boar mosaic (cat. 2), offer perhaps the best examples of Late-Antique palace floors of the kind that may have been a source of figural compositions for artists in other media. Not unlike our chariot fitting a folio from a manuscript of Virgil's Georgics with shepherds (Vatican Cod. Lat. 3867, Fol. 44 verso) also seems to reflect a large-scale composition. Such compositions may well have been recorded in pattern books which were consulted by a variety of artists who worked in different media.

Style:
The loose and sketchy style of the figures and their placement in the picture space, show a lack of concern for depth and space. The boldly outlined figures are scattered over a flat field in a manner reminiscent of floor mosaics and manuscript illuminations. The figures are broken up into different shapes formed by the various metal inlays. The compartmentalized approach to both figure and picture field is comparable to the intarsia marble floor of the basilica of Junius Bassus (after 331) where the figures are composed of pieces of different colored marbles in a manner that recalls the metal inlay technique of the chariot fitting. The division of the human form into compartments is a true departure from the organic naturalism of classical art in favor of more schematic and emblematic representations.

Our chariot fitting is by far the richest and most lavish object of inlaid metalwork to have survived from Late Antiquity. It is only one piece from a large-scale object with mechanical parts, probably a chariot, of astonishing size and complexity. It preserves a cycle of scenes extolling the bounty of earth and sea and the peaceful pleasures of pastoral life, a miniature compendium of themes popular among wealthy late-fourth century landowners and an urban elite. Many of these themes would be borrowed by Christian image-makers as metaphors for Paradise.

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