Ancient Plaster: Casting Light on a Forgotten Sculptural Material offers a fresh exploration of plaster in the sculpture of the ancient Mediterranean and beyond. Challenging the traditional focus on marble and bronze, this volume reveals the crucial role of plaster both in the sculptor's workshop and as a medium for finished sculpture. Combining academic insights with contemporary artists' perspectives, the book also delves into the controversial topic of life-casting in antiquity and provides groundbreaking new interpretations of well-known plaster objects such as those from the Roman city of Baiae, near Naples. With chapters extending the chronological and geographical scope to early modern Europe and contemporary art school contexts, the book illuminates plaster's versatility and the continuity of its use across millennia. By rehabilitating this material, often overlooked or lost to the archaeological record, the volume offers a transformative view of ancient sculpture, appealing to both scholars and art enthusiasts alike.
Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements
Introduction ABBEY L. R. ELLIS AND EMMA M. PAYNE
Part I Modelling and Moulding in Plaster 1 Freehand Modelling with Lime
Plaster CLARE VENABLES
2 Lime Kilns and Plaster Production BETH MUNRO
3 Thoughts on the Disposition of the 1983 Cache of Plaster Figures from Ayn
Ghazal, Jordan KATHRYN WALKER TUBB
4 The Material Behind the Masterpiece: Plaster and the Production of Greek
and Roman Chryselephantine Statues KENNETH LAPATIN
5 Sculpting with Plaster at Dura-Europos EMMA M. PAYNE
6 Discussing Middle Byzantine Stucco Production: The Case of Hosios Loukas
FLAVIA VANNI
Part II Plaster in the Sculptors Workshop 7 Plaster Piece-Moulding THOMAS
SCHELPER
8 In the Workshop of an Ancient Egyptian Sculptor: The Estate of the Chief
Royal Sculptor Thutmose At Akhet-Aten Amarna DIMITRI LABOURY
9 Plaster Casts and the Transmission of Iconography: A Central Asian
Perspective RACHEL MAIRS AND LAUREN MORRIS
10 Italy, France, and the Origin of the Full-scale Plaster Model ECKART
MARCHAND
11 Did Roman Marble Sculptors Work from Plaster Models? The Baiae Plaster
Casts in Context AMANDA CLARIDGE
12 The Function of Ancient Plaster Casts from Metalworks: A Reconsideration
ABBEY L. R. ELLIS
13 Plaster Moulds for Stone Sculpture THOMAS MERRETT AND EMMA PAYNE
Part III Life Casting in the Classical World 14 Life Casting in Antiquity: A
Sculptors Perspective NIGEL KONSTAM
15 Plaster Life Casting and the Production of Bronze Statuary in Ancient
Greece: The Early Classical Revolution W. ALEXANDER LUMSDEN AND CAROL
MATTUSCH
16 Roman Non-elite Plaster Death Mask Moulds Revisited: Practicality,
Purpose, and Memory preservation KELSEY SHAWN MADDEN
Part IV Ancient Subjects, Modern Eyes 17 Modern Life Casting MARTIN HANSON
18 Flexible Casting Techniques through History MARIAM SONNTAG
19 Casting from Life: A Delicate Matter VERONIKA TOCHA
20 We Contemporize, They Persist CHRIS DORSETT
Index
Abbey Ellis is based at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, where she has served as a Research Associate in the Krateros Squeeze Digitization Project and as a Visitor in the School of Historical Studies. Her research considers ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, plaster casts ancient and modern, and historic reproductions more generally. In 2021, she was awarded her Ph.D. by the University of Leicesters School of Museum Studies. Her Ph.D. project focused on issues of value related to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxfords collection of archaeological plaster casts. In addition to her work at the Institute, she is a Guest Lecturer at the Princeton Academy of Art. Emma Payne is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Classics, Kings College London, where she also completed a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship (20182021), exploring the making of ancient Greek and Roman stone and plaster sculpture. She completed her PhD in 2017 at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, studying the archaeological and historical significances of casts of classical sculpture. She is the author of Casting the Parthenon Sculptures from the Eighteenth Century to the Digital Age (Bloomsbury, 2021). Before her PhD, she trained as a conservator of archaeological and museum objects through which she gained a keen practical awareness of the materiality of objects. She presently works on a number of archaeological conservation projects as a freelance conservator, mainly in the southeast of England.
